Drafting high-schools into the College Industrial Complex

If you want to see the academic industrial complex work its magic, turn to the op-ed piece by J.B. Schramm and E. Kinney Zalesne in today’s NY Times. They love the idea that schools will be graded on how “they increase both college enrollment and the number of students who complete at least a year of college.” They call this “grade 13.” Cute.

It all sounds rational when they tell the story. High school diplomas stopped being worth much once everyone got them and so we should double down and make sure that everyone gets a college diploma. Well, that’s not exactly how they say it. But you get the picture. It worked so well with high school diplomas, we might as well try it with college diplomas too.

Notice that the schools are not going to be graded by whether they turn out good students or whether the students make a good enough living to support themselves. Nor will they be graded by some survey of 40 year olds that measures how many thought that high school helped them with their lives. Nope. They’re judged by the number of students who pay a year of tuition. Oh I’m sorry. That’s rather crass. They said “complete at least a year of college.” But it’s the same thing.

There’s a real danger that high schools will fall right into place and turn into good little recruiters for the academic industrial complex. When the “No Child Left Behind” legislation brought tests, the schools dutifully started teaching to the test. I’m sure all of them will push even harder for kids to head off to college.

It’s not that I’m against the idea behind the measure. If they were to, say, ask for a test that measured writing and math ability, then they would be measuring real knowledge. But they’re not. They want to see that canceled check. I wouldn’t be so upset if college were reasonably priced but it’s hard to get even a state school education these days without racking up a debt.

What do these college pushers do? Why they run a consulting company that “helps school districts and states increase the number of high school graduates who succeed in college.” Wow. It must be nice to get the NY Times to push your business on their op-ed page.