More for Less
Sorry about last week… Not enough time in the day to get everything done that needs to be in a day.
I have done some considerable thinking over the past 2 weeks. My thoughts started at graduation last week. We had about 40 or so graduates… all of which had been in at least one of my classes (many of them two). There were 6 of these students who took an additional elective that I teach; international health.
While watching these fine young people walk across the stage, I thought to myself how sad it was that so many people did not have the chance to go to college. Many because of circumstance, others because they just don’t want to jump through the “hoops” of college, even others because they don’t want to put in the additional effort despite the clear benefits of completing a college degree.
According to the census bureau only 24.4% of people 25+ have at least a bachelor degree. To me that is amazing! A USA today report in 2002 reported that lifetime salary of a college graduate is nearly $1 Million more than a high school graduate. Anyone use an extra million bucks?
So to the point of my blog. How can we get more people a college degree? Of course reduce the cost, improve access by accepting more into schools or make the degree compulsory like primary and secondary school.
But I am not sure anyone is thinking about this solution. I think it is a great one!
I conducted a little summary of the credits of some of my graduates. (Keep in mind that our university gives students only 1 semester past 140 credits to complete their degree… other programs will allow students up to 200 credits). The average college graduate earns at my program has 136.5 credits. Only 120 credits are required for a degree. Therefore, each student has an EXCESS is 16.5 credits.
So, what if we were to take away the excess credits from college graduates (after all they don’t really need them) and GIVE them to people who would like a degree. We could call it a surplus bank… For every 7 graduates we would be able to get one person a college degree that would like to have one. That is an increase of 13.7%!!! And it would cost VERY little to implement. We would be helping those that need assistance in getting their degree. What do you think?
If you agree, let the new education secretary know you would like to get this program on the first 100 day agenda.
And if this works, maybe it would work with other social programs… Like Taxes.
Thanks for listening… From the heart of the Rockies
T Dub
Kelly House
Margaret Sullivan
Maria Alexandrova
jodyearly
Shanell L. McGoy
Mainul Mustafa
M. Helen Hogue
Yuba
Okony K. Cham
Kamrun Mustafa
I appreciate you for taking the time to post your blog. You do a nice job of suggesting a variation on the concept of corporations that pollute the environment being able to buy “green” credits from corporations that emit no or very few pollutants. Your proposal, which i take to be tongue-in-cheek, that those not performing college work could buy credits from college students who have earned more credits than they need is ludicrous and is not directly parallel to the concept of polluting corporations buying “green credits.” However, I will admit that the latter proposal is a bit ludicrous, as well.
The earning of college credit is based upon an individual gaining certain knowledge, skills and competencies. The idea that someone buying college credits without gaining the knowledge, skills and competencies is rediculous, and we refer to perpetrators of scams that sell degrees in this manner as diploma mills.
The selling of “green credits”, while not analogous to the selling of college credits, has very limited value to the environment. The idea is that a corporation could be rewarded for attaining high standards of performance in protecting the environment by selling “green credits” to corporations that are failing to attain minimum standards of performance has merit only in that it is a mechanism for rewarding the overachieving corporations. It certainly does not benefit the enviroment that the corporation that underperforms continues to pollute above the minimum standard for performance.
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Some forms of wealth redistribution may seem a bit like your analogy, but others do not. The clearest flaw in the analogy is that in the academic arena, some are admitted and others are not. Your proposal suggests selling credits earned by those who have entered the arena to those outside it. In wealth redistribution, all are in the arena by virtue of being members of a common society.
Actually, wealth redistribution occurs in all societies, whether it is done by the more able feeding and clothing the less able, or the powerful finding ways to establish rules that help them gather the crown jewels for themselves and the those of whom they are most fond.
Policies and regulations and the enforcement or lack of enforcement of these work to redistribute wealth from the masses to wealthy few as much as or more than social welfare programs redistribute wealth from the wealthy to the poor. Lack of enforcement of financial investment regulations permitted Madoff to redistribute wealth from investors from across the financial spectrum, including charities that sought to benefit the poor. Concurrently, policies of deregulation of financial practices in the housing market and investment of derivatives facilitated redistribution of wealth from the masses to a small number of corporate executives and some investors.
The largest wealth redistribution programs in our country seems to be those that benefit powerful. When a major corporation underperforms in the USA, tens of thousands of blue collar and low level white collar employees are laid off and the top executives, who laid off these workers, receive bonuses for saving the corporation from the financial costs of maintaining its workforce.
Corporate wellfare has frequently been greater than welfare for the poor. Corporate welfare includes using taxpayers money to support building of sports arenas, tax exemptions for corporate investment in a certain location, and use of imminent domain to force property owners to sell said property to corporations, as well as the ongoing federal “bail outs” of major banks and manufacturing corporations.
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