The recession is partly to blame. But the trends in California are long in the making. And if budget and performance problems are the new reality, rather than a temporary detour, they presage a very different California — one less educated, and therefore less innovative, less prosperous and less dynamic. Most critics and observers of California’s system remain focused on incremental and largely marginal improvements, but that’s not enough. If California is to retain its luster as an economic powerhouse, the state needs to think big: It needs to innovate and to re-imagine a higher education system that has barely changed in five decades. First, California’s political, educational and business leaders should set an ambitious goal that the state match or exceed the access and degree-production rates of the highest-achieving states or, better yet, international competitors… This means we must increase access to four-year schools. We must reverse the current trend of reduced enrollment in the Cal State system caused by massive budget cuts, faculty layoffs and reduced course offerings.

Read full article [here].
by John Aubrey Douglass, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: September 13th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.