Students need money, not bureaucracy

"There you go again!" "Where's the beef?"

Those two famous sound bites remind me of Utah Higher Education's campaign to reach out to middle school students to start thinking and getting ready to go to college.

Don't get me wrong; I think higher education is vital. We already know how critical it is that we prepare students and the nation to succeed in today's global economy. It seems the higher education folks finally saw the value in reaching out to the pool of middle school students, after seeing the declining enrollment reflected in national trends. And, federal grants available to reverse the trend probably stirred more interest on their part. That's what bureaucracies do well in order to survive.

But they don't need to reinvent the wheel, or waste money by adding another bureaucratic layer on the front-line teachers who can best do the job. They are already overwhelmed with needless regulations and overpaid "quality control" administrators.

If Higher Education is really interested in helping students reach their full career hopes, it must be willing to pass on its resources directly to students, families and front-line teachers. They are the ones that can motivate and instill the love of learning for children to succeed in our ever-changing world.

The solution should include lowering tuition. That's the main reason many students can't afford to go to college. Most important, Higher Education should pass the money on to local school districts requiring that it go directly to lowering class size and rewarding teachers with $$$. Eliminate the middle person and all the administrative overhead — that's coordination.

Higher Education's campaign appears to call for more information to let students know the importance of preparing for higher education and technical training. Students hear that all the time, but it makes no sense because they do not see the connection between what is taught in the classroom and the real world. To solve that problem, President Clinton signed the 1995 "School-to-Work" Act. Big dollars were given to states to create a "seamless system" with career planning starting in middle schools where students could begin preparing for work, or going on to higher learning.

Counselors were trained, programs started, and the basic document, "SEOP" (Student Education Occupation Plan), was designed to allow the student, parent and counselor to help plan the student's education/vocational future. It was supposed to create classroom-based learning with work-based learning, so students could make the connection with what they are learning and future job prospects. It was also supposed to give teachers the opportunity to learn about the changing job market.