It’s time to drop the college-for-all crusade

Robert J. Samuelson
The Washington Post
Opinion Writer
Published May 27, 2012

The college-for-all crusade has outlived its usefulness. Time to ditch it. Like the crusade to make all Americans homeowners, it’s now doing more harm than good. It looms as the largest mistake in educational policy since World War II, even though higher education’s expansion also ranks as one of America’s great postwar triumphs.
Consider. In 1940, fewer than 5 percent of Americans had a college degree. Going to college was “a privilege reserved for the brightest or the most affluent” high-school graduates, wrote Diane Ravitch in her history of U.S. education, “The Troubled Crusade.” No more. At last count, roughly 40 percent of Americans had some sort of college degree: about 30 percent a bachelor’s degree from a four-year institution; the rest associate degrees from community colleges.
Starting with the GI Bill in 1944, governments at all levels promoted college. From 1947 to 1980, enrollments jumped from 2.3 million to 12.1 million. In the 1940s, private colleges and universities accounted for about half. By the 1980s, state schools — offering heavily subsidized tuitions — represented nearly four-fifths. Aside from a democratic impulse, the surge reflected “the shift in the occupational structure to professional, technical, clerical and managerial work,” noted Ravitch. The economy demanded higher skills; college led to better-paying jobs.
College became the ticket to the middle class, the be-all-and-end-all of K-12 education. If you didn’t go to college, you’d failed. Improving “access” — having more students go to college — drove public policy.
We overdid it. The obsessive faith in college has backfired.
Read more HERE.

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 5/8/12

The Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, May 8 will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Executive session – 12 p.m.

Call to order – 1 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance, North Point High School's JROTC unit

Recognition of student liaisons

Superintendent's update - See report
Correspondence/Board Member updates

• Bowie - NSBA Conference highlights
• Pedersen - NSBA Conference highlights
• Cook - NSBA highlights
• Lukas - DI Competition - congratulations
• Wise - Every 15 Minutes program - support

Education Association of Charles County update - see report
Student Board Member update - see report

CIP update - see report

• Wade - asked Wineland if he is comfortable with the progress of the new high school.
• Wineland - will come back with an answer next month; opening is not in jeopardy at this point

Educational facilities master plan -see report
Title I homeless and dental care projects, partnerships - see report

Unfinished business

• Wise - RFP's for consulting firms research presentation; thinks we should go with MABE.
• Abell - reason MABE is so much cheaper?  due to membership dues and it is a non-profit
• Lukas - can we ask a broad range of companies a list of questions?
• Wade - What are the steps we HAVE to do?
• Cook - What does piggyback mean?
• Balides - ride behind the current RFP; valid way to get things done
• Hettel - it needs to be a consultant for the board and should be kept out of central office and should be kept confidential; recommends a consultant
• Pedersen - concerns on cost in the long run; person who will lead our school system for a very long time; sometimes you have to spend the money to get the cream of the crop.
• Cook - applicants pool change with which consultant is used?
• Lukas - timeline to have consultant confirmed?

Motion to hire MABE as consultants for the Superintendent search by Abell; Second by Cook

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

• Abell - K9 dogs in schools?
• Richmond - waiting on a response from Coffey

New business

• Wise - 3 members to work with staff on redistricting policy; Abell, Lukas, Pedersen

Future agenda items - none
Recognition – 4:15 p.m.

• Ruth Ann Hall awards
• Students - Aashka Pate, 5th grade, Academic Achievement, T.C. Martin Elementary School; Lauren O'Neil, 5th grade, Academic Achievement, Walter J. Mitchell Elementary School; Tolani Olaosebikan, 5th grade, Personal Responsibility, Mary B. Neal Elementary School; Emily Rawson, 8th grade, Academic Achievement, Mattawoman Middle School; Shannon Gravette, 12th grade, Career Readiness, North Point High School; Brandon Paulin, 10^th grade, Henry E. Lackey High School, winner in the 2012 National Voice of Democracy’s Audio-Essay Competition
• Employees - Kathryn Stapleson, gifted education resource teacher, Martin; Melissa Walter, instructional specialist, Mitchell; Laurie Silk, secretary, Neal; Andrea Hoover, social studies teacher, Mattawoman; Linda McLaughlin, world language teacher, North Point

Public Forum – 6 p.m.

• Derrick Terry - Superintendent search -- must have a vested interest in students and county and not someone who is an exorbitant spender, have a lavish lifestyle, or interested only in furthering their own career.  Keep public involved.  No consulting firms; use online survey with the public; should be an educator, home grown.  Get rid of perks; promote from within.
• Lourdes Saigon - Relocating -  stop allocating seats we don't have available.  Concerned about high school rezoning and whether Board is going to have the public involved. 
• Roseman Dai - Students moving from Davis to Henson -- concerned that Henson will be at state rated capacity next year and new developments are being built in that vicinity.  What's going to happen next year?  Been attending meetings with commissioners and planning commission.  Please talk to citizens/parents and use them to communicate and communicate with the other boards as well.

Action items

• Minutes
Motion to accept the Minutes by Abell; Second by Pedersen
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel by Pedersen; Second by Lukas

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

2013-2014 calendar

Motion to accept 2013-2014 Calendar by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

Budget amendment FY 2012

Motion to accept Budget Amendment FY 2012 by Lukas; Second by Wade

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

Board Goals

Motion to accept Board Goals FY 2012 by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, May 8, 2012

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, May 8, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building on Radio Station Road in La Plata. The public portion of the meeting begins at 1 p.m. and student and staff recognition starts at 4:15 p.m. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12 and is rebroadcast throughout the week. The meeting is also streamed live on the Charles County Public Schools website. Visit http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/ to watch the meeting.


Executive session – 12 p.m.


Call to order – 1 p.m.


Pledge of Allegiance, North Point High School's JROTC unit


Recognition of student liaisons


Superintendent's update
 Correspondence/Board Member updates


Education Association of Charles County update


Student Board Member update


CIP update


Educational facilities master plan


Title I homeless and dental care projects, partnerships


Unfinished business

New business


Future agenda items


Recognition – 4:15 p.m.

• Ruth Ann Hall awards
• Students
• Employees

Public Forum – 6 p.m.


Action items

• Minutes
• Personnel
• 2013-2014 calendar
• Budget amendment FY 2012

Adjournment

CCPS Press Release: Health department, school system investigating tuberculosis case

Posted on May 4, 2012 at 3:19 PM

The Charles County Department of Health has confirmed that a North Point High School student has been diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) disease. The school system is working with the health department to ensure there is no further risk in the school.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial illness that responds well to proper medical treatment. It is spread through the air, usually by coughing or sneezing. Generally, a person must have prolonged exposure to the person with TB in order to breathe in a sufficient number of TB germs to cause a TB infection. The disease cannot be transmitted by touching someone or by sharing eating utensils.
The health department is working with the school and school system to identify those who should receive TB testing. Classmates, teachers and staff members at North Point who may have had prolonged exposure to the student diagnosed with TB will receive an exposure letter and a TB testing consent form by e-mail and regular mail early next week. The health department will provide free TB tests at North Point to those people identified. North Point parents/guardians who do not receive an exposure letter or e-mail do not need to have their children tested at this time.
Today, North Point is sending home an information letter to all parents as well as a TB fact sheet. Questions can be directed to your family physician or the Charles County Department of Health's Communicable Disease Control Program at 301-609-6900, ext. 6025, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Additional information about tuberculosis is available on the Department of Health website www.charlescountyhealth.org. A fact sheet is also available on the school system website at www.ccboe.com.
Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.