Last sunday’s New York Times “News of the Week in Review” had an article by Jacques Steinberg entitled “Plan B:Skip College”. He is reporting on a fairly short list of people, including Charles Murray, who are serious about capping postsecondary education opportunity for currently marginalized people — read poor and/or of color. I am always impressed when people who have a privilege, like a college education and degree, argue that those without that privilege really don’t need it. continue reading

Even as the recession eases, we are confronted by two realities: state budgets that are deeply in the red and a rising demand for higher education. The President says we need more success in higher education to stay economically viable. and learners are voting with their feet, returning to school in record numbers.  If, however, our objective is to open higher education to more qualified and capable people, and to succeed with them, what is the actual impact of the recession and state budget deficits on most students and colleges? continue reading

President Obama has sent a strong and badly needed  message of philosophical and financial support for community colleges. But they, and their students, are still in deep trouble in many states whose economic recovery is key to the national economic recovery, including California and Florida. continue reading

I am very pleased that my most recent book, “Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning” (Jossey-Bass, Jan, 2010) was published in January. Writing the book has been a journey for me: changing me in the writing and changing the book as a result of the intellectual ferment created. I have come to understand this technological revolution as more  than a set of linked events with a cumulative widespread impact on almost every facet of our lives. Indeed, I now understand it as a new ecology, a new environment for information and intellectual activity which cannot be controlled by existing hierarchical structures, such as universities and governments. continue reading

I am excited and pleased today because I am holding my new book, Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning (Jossey-Bass, Jan. 2010), in my hands. It lives up to its title, I think, describing how our technology-rich environment, populated with platforms, networks, social sites, and downloads, makes possible a level of access and completion in higher education that has been unattainable up to this point. I illustrate this point with a number of examples. Primary among them is being able to self-assess your experiential learning and then, if you wish, get it reviewed formally for academic credit , all on-line. continue reading

On January 7-8, about 100 people, drawn from a wide variety of educational, technical, labor, non-profit, and business backgrounds, gathered at Cavallo Point, a conference center in Sausalito. Sponsored by the Lumina Foundation, the topic was “Envisioning the Future of Higher Education”. For this old warrior, it was a bright moment in time when principles and potential for the future of higher education were expressed clearly and honestly, without regard for whether they would go down easily with the traditional academy. continue reading

In last week’s Newsweek, there were two articles that heralded the need for change in higher education. Yet, sadly, they promised more than they delivered. First Senator Lamar Alexander led with the cover story, “Why College Should Take Only Three Years.” This is a great idea, one that the European Union has embraced in its “Bologna Process”, among others. But then, instead of developing the educational rationale and suggesting a model for the three year BA, Alexander, a legitimate educational reformer as Governor of Tennessee, falls back on bromides: “college is expensive so let’s do it faster”, and “a three year degree is cramming four years of courses into three years”.

Then, a round-table discussion group promised us thoughts on “The Role of Higher Education” in the 21^st century. Again, sadly, the promise is clouded by disagreements about whether students need to know more or less these days, with opinions that varied from no, to yes, to reducing the four year BA would be bad. Through it all, Bob Zemsky and Michael Crow carry the heavier water, arguing for rethinking the enterprise, not just re-packaging it.

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