The state has drifted, without any deliberate choice of policy, toward increased student fees and less public support. So it is good news that the Legislature has named a Joint Committee for the Master Plan on Higher Education to forge solutions. Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Redwood City, who co-chairs the committee with Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, underscores the urgency of the situation. Ruskin believes that California’s higher education system is in peril — slipping into mediocrity and excluding large numbers of Californians… In the end, the big question is: Should higher education in California be considered a public good that benefits the public at large, or as a private good to be paid for by "users" (students) and private donors? Answer that and solutions will follow. Without an answer, the current drift and deterioration will continue. California needs a new vision as bold as the 1960 Master Plan to assure that higher education remains a key element in the state’s prosperity and a principal avenue of individual opportunity.

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by The Editors, The Merced Sun Star.

Posted: December 7th, 2009, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.