Quote:
Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND
Actually, it follows models from Tennessee and one other state I can't recall...
I'm actually not for it; I'd like to see the ability to get a course or two paid for (provided you pass; I think the 'free' bill had 2.5 GPA min). I worry about degree devaluation. I'd actually like to see a move to fund some of the voc-tech programs...
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The Tennessee plan is totally a state program. Following that model is the proper way. That would maintain the philosophy of the states being a laboratory of experiment. States can choose, according to what they think best for their demographic and individual needs. When the flexibility of choice is removed and all must follow federal guidelines, the sphere of experimentation is greatly reduced. What generally happens with federal programs is they remain in near perpetuity. And they become increasingly more expensive as new fixes must be provided, especially more money, in attempts to overcome the problem of obsolescence and lack of competition due to the static, rather than experimental, structure.
Federal programs are, usually, not allowed to fail. Federal pockets are never empty. Continuing entrenched and expanded federal power is the nature of the beast. States have a greater need to change, and innovate, as well as discard that which fails since budgets are necessarily more disciplined at the state level than the federal. That the federal government can look to states for models attests to the wisdom of maintaining state sovereignties over their internal business. And education should be, as originally intended, state business, not federal.
States other than Tennessee have community college programs. There is always a necessity for states to review their programs and revise or remove them according to the success or failure in terms of their stated goals. It is at the state level that education is a dynamic process rather than a static one. And they have always looked at other state models for ideas, sometimes improving them. The cooperative/competitive symbiotic relationship of federalism, a republic of sovereign states, is dynamic and is far more likely to avoid the stagnancy of centralized planning.
And . . . oh what the hell, I'll go ahead and say it . . . STATE CONTROL OF EDUCATION IS CONSTITUTIONAL. In my opinion, this Obama plan is just another little transfer of power from states to the federal government. As well as a ploy to get votes.