In today’s Pope Center article, Mary Grabar discusses how Obama’s proposal to make community college “free” will make an already dumbed-down two-year system worse. Grabar recalls her teaching experiences at Georgia Perimeter College, where many students, lured to school by government aid, showed no interest in doing academic work. They were just going through the motions. Some of those students blithely disregarded classroom etiquette and refused to accept constructive criticism. By contrast, the students who worked and had to pay for tuition out of their own pockets were better students and more serious about getting the most out of college.
Unfortunately, Grabar notes, many of the bad students were given the “benefit of the doubt” by administrators who were more interested in maintaining the flow of federal dollars than in demanding excellence and instilling high academic standards. “Obama’s [plan] further lowers the financial and academic demands of students,” writes Grabar. “Why should taxpayers be responsible for this plan that only promises to exacerbate the problems caused by ‘free’ community college for some students?”
Read the full article here.