Higher ed is shaken, not stirred

Like a James Bond martini, America’s higher education is being “shaken, not stirred.”

While 22 other nations provide free college, increasing their numbers of college educated while watching their economies grow, the U.S. is doing the opposite. (American students thinking college “important” fell from 70 to 41 percent in 10 years.)

Debt has become our drug of choice. Interest on the national debt is now $475 billion — five times the federal budget in 1963. Student loans total $1.6 trillion. Lifetime interest payments for the average American’s mortgage, used car payments, credit card balance and student loans is $280,000. We’re all working for the banks.

When college is free, graduates leave commencement with no debt, into jobs that enable them to start creating wealth for their old age and participating in the consumer purchasing that fuels 70 percent of our economy.

High school graduates, and their parents, are coming to realize the distinction between “income” and “wealth.” A diploma may or may not bring a college graduate the promised additional million dollars, but it won’t bring wealth if, like President Barack Obama, they are still paying off student debt in their 40s — or later, or never.

There are also distinctions between “diplomas” and “education.” There is more free “education” than anyone could absorb in a lifetime — from the Kahn Academy to the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) of some of the world’s top universities. But only colleges and universities can issue “diplomas.”

An S & 500 manager told me of his disappointment with the college graduates who couldn’t comprehend a manual, write a report, or do basic math. I asked, “What if there were standard, national exams for those skills? Would you hire those who didn’t have a diploma but passed the exams?” “Of course,” he said. “We train all employees for their job. But we don’t have the time or skills to teach them math.”

What should Iowans do? There are too many possibilities for short columns. But we might start with a governor who doesn’t favor additional tax breaks for the wealthy over programs that benefit all Iowans — as well as Iowa’s economy.

We could join the 20 U.S. states that benefit from offering free community college education.

More Iowa high schools could take the lead in offering preparation for the trades along with traditional subjects (as Germany has profitably done for years), allowing students to take community college courses while in high school, or offering advanced placement courses to all students.

Labor-saving technology enriches CEOs and shareholders — but not those whose jobs disappear — as thousands of switchboard operators discovered once customers could dial their own phones, and 150,000 UAW fossil fuel autoworkers are discovering now.

Yes, many Americans and their institutions have been shaken. But how many of the rest of us have been stirred? Stirred to advocate and fight for the obvious win-win solutions for the shaken, their institutions, our country, its economy — and ourselves?

Nicholas Johnson doesn’t fancy martinis, whether shaken or stirred. Contact mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org