Individuals and Types

“Begin with an individual, and before you know it you find that you have created a type; begin with a type, and you find that you have created—nothing” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Rich Boy”). In spite of our recognition that Fitzgerald is right, we continue to work from the general back to the specific, which is why we so often have misquided policy. If we pay attention to a new report from the Department of Education, there is a chance that this time we might see that community colleges are different--not just from the rest of academe, but from each other.

The report, titled "Differential Characteristics of Post-Secondary 2-Year Institutions," establishes seven categories of two-year colleges; small, medium, and large publics, allied health non-for-profits, other not-for-profits, degree-granting for-profits, and other for-profits." This is a start, and it begins to give us good information on who attends what category of two-year college, what the faculty cohort looks like in very general terms, and what kinds of completion (or non-completion) experience students have. Maybe this beginning categorization will help us see that we need to step back to look at what an education ought to provide, how it ought to provide it, and how we need to educate all our publics about the purpose, value, and significance of post-secondary education.

Of course, I could make the same argument for Post-Secondary 4-Year Institutions as well as for all of higher education. The Commission on the Future of Higher Education's report last year highlighted that. It treated all of higher education as the type. So those of us who understand our individual institutions could easily say, "Doesn't really apply to me." And that is why the call for some easy method of comparability must be answered with our knowledge that we are not all of a type, but that our differences are good.

That also means that we in the academy must educate ourselves to our individual institutions, and work with our colleagues at their individually different institutions, to find the underlying principles and values that should be established as comparable educational benefits. Then we can show that not all post-secondary educations are the same, nor that they ought to be the same. Students should attend the institution(s) based upon what they see as their educational needs. But first we have to clearly identify and articulate those various outcomes, needs, and values and correspond them to the individual institutions.

Pell Increase?

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has announced that President Bush will request a signficant increase in the Pell grants for the FY08 budget, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's special report. The 14% increase will raise the grant to $550. As the story mentions, no one is talking about where this money will come from, but the federal budget will be released February 8. We may even know before then as more details of the budget become available over the next week.

While it is all political at this point, with one party trying to trump the other, what is obvious is that the Commission on the Future of Higher Education's Report is having an effect. Both Congress and the President have moved on the affordability issue by asking for an increase in the Pell grant. The Department of Education has been pushing for change on accountability and accreditation that the accrediting groups are taking seriously.

Where does this lead? We will have to see. After all, this is the political year of posturing before the political year of campaigning.

The Commission’s Report

The Department of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education has just released its report, “A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U. S. Higher Education.”

In addition, in my last blog I commented that AAUP is hosting “A Dialogue on Contingent Faculty” on November 17 in Washington, DC. Invited will be the higher education groups in the Washington, DC area. I have been asked to be a discussion leader at one of the tables where we will address the issue of the faculty appointments that fall outside of traditional full-time, tenured positions. At that meeting, AAUP will release a new report on the utilization of contingent faculty. This study will be an index of contingent faculty appointments, institution by institution. It will attempt to include all faculty positions, teaching and non-teaching, to give a picture of just what the full faculty cohort looks like at each institution.

News and Notes

Once again, the updates from the National Humanities Alliance can be found on their website. Here is the August report.

The Commission on the Future of Higher Education met on August 10 to ratify their report that will be edited and prepared for delivery to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in September. The DOE has already announced that they will hold a series of meetings to discuss how the federal rule making process can be used to implement parts of the report. With the release of the near final draft, several organizations have weighed in with comments. The Association of American Colleges and Universities has been working for most of this century on improving undergraduate education with their Greater Expectations initiative. Their response to the Commission is quite pointed about what was missed. Also, the Association of American Universities issued a report earlier that was critical of draft two of the report.

And finally, for those of you who have enjoyed Cliff Adelman’s reports from the Department of Education, he is moving to the Institute for Higher Education Policy, as reported in Inside Higher Education.