• Welcome
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • About Me
  • Publications
    • Work in Progress
  • Blog
  • Provocations

TRASHING LIBERAL EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA  

2/12/2013

0 Comments

 
North Carolina is one of the few swing states that turned red in the 2012 elections. The governorship, the General Assembly and the state Sensate all went to the Republicans, as Romney  by a narrow margin carried the state.  So it will  be a good  case of what Republican stewardship of a state  will amount to.

The new governor, Pat McCrory, indicated what that would mean for higher education  in a talk show appearance with Bill Bennett,  ex-drug czar, and one time humanist.  The  interview has been widely reported but it is hard to  catch its tone.   Some quotations, however, give a taste of it:

“[My funding plan for higher education is] not based on butts in seats but on how many of those butts can get jobs."

“I think some of the educational elite have taken over our education where we are offering courses that have no chance of getting people jobs…”

“….if you want to take gender studies, go to a private school and take it. But I don’t want to subsidize that if it’s not going to get someone a job.”

You have to hear the interview to believe it. McCrory shot himself in the foot by making it sound as if he wanted to  turn  two hundred years of UNC  excellence into a vocational training program: http://www.billbennett.com/michaelmedved/player.aspx?g=aHR0cDovL21lZGlhLnRvd25oYWxsLmNvbS90b3duaGFsbC9iZW5uZXR0L0dvdk1jQ3JvcnkxLjI5LjEzLm1wMw^!^^!^

The Governor clearly underestimated a potent force in NC politics --  the loyalty of NC citizens to the University of North Carolina’s long history of accessible, high-quality public education.   The reaction in the state and nationally was swift and strong – news articles, op ed pieces, letters to the editor  etc.  My own contribution,  entitled “The Gold Standard,  is at http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/10/2664770/w-robert-connor-gold-standard.html

Most dramatic has been the success of an electronic petition that at last count had over 12,000 signatures, and some  sharply wsorded comments:P http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2013/02/01/hundreds-tell-gov-mccrory-to-respect-liberal-arts-education/

No doubt McCrory fans like his bashing of the “elites” but so far his plan for vocationalizing public higher education seems to have blown up in his face.  Stay tuned.  I’ll report as I learn more. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    RSS Feed

    Picture