When I find a good Republican idea, I am the first to say I agree. Well, it took near on three years, but I am with Ohio Governor John Kasich on pushing his state's colleges and universities to grant degrees in three years rather than four.
First of all, it can save students money and get them into the workforce faster. Second, I've long taken the view that the academic balance between research and teaching is out of whack and professors should do more teaching. That's probably rather Republican of me, but so be it. I am against assaults on tenure. Tenure is vital. But teachers should teach more.
Liberal Georgetown law prof Jonathan Turley doesn't like the idea:
What is missing from such analysis is the process of learning and maturation that occurs in a four-year program. College is not primarily about getting a degree to get better jobs — at least not for educators. It is about producing well-educated individuals with an appreciation for a wide array of knowledge. It should be a time of intellectual awakening for students who are exposed to great ideas and great writers. This exploration can lead students into new fields or simply open up a lifetime interest in learning. "Stripping down" education suggests that some knowledge or course are merely frivolous distractions as opposed to the core classes needed to be functional in society. You can strip down a lawnmower and it will still produce a sharp cut. When you strip down education, you just get a dull graduate.
Well, I think that sounds really good in theory, but the vast majority of students leave even so prestigious a school as the Ohio State University knowing less about the Constitution than Donald Trump does. We have more dull graduates primed to join the booboisie now than H.L. Mencken could shake a stick at. And I think if a young person is interested in awakening intellectually, she or he can manage it in three years rather than four.
So I'm with you, Kasich, on this one matter and this one matter alone, even as I hasten to point out that this idea of shortening college is not Republican at all but grows (as far as I know) out of the Bologna Process, which means that it is not only European but probably in some way socialist.
