Saturday, February 07, 2009
Where did the idea of merging two year community colleges under technical
schools come from?
The current threat to GPC and other two year community colleges came from a
report out of an organization entitled: The National Center on Education and the
Economy. A committee (the co-chair was Knapp, retired UGA President) wrote
their report “Tough Choices or Tough Times” in 2006. The report and Executive
Summary can be found at:
www.skillscommission.org/executive.htm Governor Sonny Perdue formed a
committee in the summer of 2008 to explore implementation of that original
report in Georgia. The first draft of the Georgia committee maintained the two
year colleges and the technical colleges as separate entities. The second draft
recommended merging the two year colleges under the technical colleges. You can
read the latest draft report of the Governor’s committee at
http://www.gpc.edu/~facsen/senate08-09/Jan%20Meeting/Merger%20Documents/Dec%2015%20Memo%20Scanned%20Version.pdf
and the earlier report from September
http://www.gpc.edu/~facsen/senate08-09/Jan%20Meeting/Merger%20Documents/Sept%2018%20Memo%20Scanned%20Version.pdf
Two year colleges were not represented on any of the committees. Currently we
differ from the technical colleges in that we are under the auspices of the
University System of Georgia (USG) along with all four year colleges and
universities. The USG operates independently of the state legislature and
reports directly to the Governor. The Technical College System of Georgia is
directly under the Education Committees of the state legislature.
Please consider adding your thoughts and opinions in support of nixing the
merger. It is important that you use your own words to convey your ideas when
you email, snail mail, or call your state senators and representatives as well
as the Governor and the Lt. Governor. To find your state representatives go to:
www.congress.org.
To assist you in your communication, the following talking points have been
developed:
1. The draft recommendations of the Georgia committee states in section A.,
d. “…current Technical College System to administer all technical and 2-year
academic programs offered in Georgia, thus building a Technical and Academic
College System of Georgia (TACSG).”
The result would be to change the current status of 2-year community colleges as
direct links to the four year liberal arts education. Parents, when looking for
the post secondary school for their children will be resistant to a degree from
a technical/liberal arts hybrid.
2. Arguments for and against changing the two year system from the
existing structure to subsume 2 year liberal arts colleges under technical
college administration move along two distinct lines: Political/budgetary
interests and social policy interests. Each position contains unintended
consequences for the other. For example, when decisions about education are
made involving cost and cost cutting, it is easy to justify “streamlining” the
education budget by asserting that the state will save money by merging the two
year colleges with the technical colleges. The cost, however, is paid through
the loss of critical intersecting progressive social policies aimed at “leveling
the playing field”, (i.e. equal educational opportunity policies). Hard-won
initiatives which result in the buildup of the social fabric and the worth of
all citizens are lost. Policy based on budget does not serve the social
contract. The fallacy of this can be seen in the transition from GPC
Lawrenceville to the Gwinnett College. Gwinnett College lost accreditation and
therefore the students who want to attend an accredited college left, leaving
that college with only 2,000 students. Without accreditation, Federal Financial
Aid disappears. Currently, more than half of the 22,000 students attending GPC
receive some type of Federal Financial Aid.
3. The states-wide initiatives directed at Workforce Development have been
hard wired to provide technical education not liberal arts education. The plan
calls for testing all 10th graders to determine and limit their future
educational paths. Is there a push to job oriented training instead of broad
education in the liberal arts? Workforce development, so arguably logical,
raises serious questions about unintended social consequences: is there an
unintended unwritten social policy that results in separate and unequal playing
fields?; does testing reintroduce tracking which unintentionally blocks or
interferes with (would be) first generation college students having easy access
(K-14) to a liberal arts college community and thereby fortify the class system,
restricting social mobility? If the answers are “yes”, the result, both
individual and collective, would be to keep a significant segment of the
population untutored in reflective and critical thinking and devoid of the power
of knowledge - a social and economic loss. The mission of higher education is
to transmit and enrich the culture. Over the last 15-20 years colleges have
moved to open enrollment to enact, as one of their missions, the implementation
of policies which support the educational rights/needs of marginalized and
poorly represented citizens. What GPC as a two year community college has done
so well is provide local, affordable access to liberal arts education in
preparation for a seamless transfer to the four year institutions for further
education.
4. Where was the representation of the two year colleges in the
deliberations for this plan? Neither the presidents of the two year community
colleges nor the faculty were consulted. The drafts of the committees work were
not open to evaluation or input by any of the constituents who would be affected
by this transition.
5. Choice is at the heart of the American dream. Currently students who
attend the technical colleges may change their career goal and transfer
seamlessly to a two year community college.
6. The technical schools have a different mission from the two year
community colleges and both seem to be doing their jobs very well. Why go
through the disruption caused by changing something which is not “broken”?
7. GPC students along with students from across the state make up the
approximately 50,000 students who transfer from two year schools to four year
colleges and universities.
8. What are the benefits of the remedial work GPC offers? Returning vets,
adults in career transitions and students who did not do well in high school can
come to GPC at any time and begin again to reach the dream of a college
education and qualify for and obtain the life-long difference in earning power
that a college degree affords one.
9. Compared to those with a high school education, Georgia Perimeter
College students impact the community significantly in the following ways:
40% lower unemployment rate
25% higher income
More than $4,000,000 in additional taxable income each year for the
Atlanta metropolitan area
62% less likely to use government or public assistance
56% more knowledgeable about local and national government
27% more likely to be actively involved in civic activities
37% less likely to have children out of wedlock
29% lower chance of infant mortality
48% lower death rate among the 25-64 year old population
12% higher rate of health insurance coverage
The children of GPC graduates will also perform better in high schools
50% lower chance of incarceration, saving Georgia more than $1,000,000
of prison and other costs associated within 5 years of operation
Dr. Julia Rux
Professor of Psychology and Anthropology
Georgia Perimeter College