State of the Union, "E" Stands for Excellence, and Education Next Part 2: America’s Education Engine of Reform

More higher education news than you need in a week--but can't live without

Mar 14, 2024

The Education State of the Union: Student Debt Dilemma Unpacked

In his State of the Union address last week president Joe Biden gave higher education its due in the process of meeting his boosters’ wishes of giving ‘em hell (“turning setback into comeback” and “when America is knocked down, we get back up”) by suggesting a few feel good (Applause) education proposals -- “connecting local businesses and high schools so students get hands-on experience and a path to a good-paying job whether or not they go to college” (Applause), “fix[ing] two student loan programs that already existed to reduce the burden of student debt for nearly 4 million Americans, including nurses, firefighters — [applause] — and others in public service…. And while we’re at it, I want to give public school teachers a raise. (Applause). And, by the way, the first couple of years, we cut the deficit.”

Not bad. Yes, Biden’s success in reducing student debt for nearly 4 million Americans is real. But concerns linger for those who have yet to benefit, prompting ongoing discussions about the reach of future relief efforts. One of the president’s new proposals seeks to erase up to $25,000 in student debt per borrower, specifically targeting those who attended for-profit colleges. This move aims to rectify longstanding disparities in loan forgiveness, ensuring fair treatment for all borrowers. But as discussions intensify over its implementation and affordability, the plan's fate hangs in the balance. Following the Supreme Court's blockage of Biden's broader student debt plan, attention has shifted to his utilization of executive actions, with reports from the White House indicating the cancellation of $138 billion in student debt for nearly 3.9 million individuals may not pay off for at least a decade. On a positive note the College Cost Reduction Act, which aims to overhaul all of higher education by holding institutions partially responsible for student loan debt has progressed in the Republican-controlled House after approval by the Committee on Education & the Workforce.

Sources

Remarks by President Biden in State of the Union Address (The White House)

Biden Has Canceled About $138 Billion of Student Loans Despite Supreme Court Ruling. Here’s How. (Wall Street Journal)

GOP-backed bill to hold colleges partly responsible for student loan debt advances (The College Fix)

Biden announces $1.2 billion in student debt forgiveness (Los Angeles Times)

DEI Dilemma: When the E Should Stand for Excellence

In a recent Sanity Clause Substack story, Joe “Primary Colors” Klein gave a shoutout to New York Times op-ed columnist Pamela Paul for a piece about a Stanford conference on “restoring inclusive civil discourse on campus.” Paul gives a good roundup of opinions from many different sides, but concludes that “One thing on which everyone agreed: Schools are failing at real diversity.” “Paul was more politic than I,” said Klein, who immediately made good on his word: “DEI programs are quite ridiculous, a foolish industry—an industry, mind you—funded mostly by taxpayer or philanthropic dollars…. DEI is an `Industry’ that divides people according to identity, a most un-American principle. It should be abolished, saving gazillions of dollars that, I don’t know, should probably go to housing and educating the poor. DEI should be replaced by a single letter: E…for excellence.” (See Paul’s followup on the Stanford conference.)

Indeed, it is an understatement to say that the DEI landscape remains fraught with conflict, as seen in clashes between lawmakers and donors over DEI policies. Such disagreements have resulted in funding cuts and strained university-donor relationships. From the University of Florida's abolishment of its DEI office and plans to integrate diversity initiatives across departments, aiming for, what they tout as a more holistic approach to proposed bills in Idaho and Alabama limiting DEI efforts. Under a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) bill in Idaho, colleges would have to cut numerous jobs, as the legislation prohibits state funds from being used for DEI programs or training. The bill, if passed, would significantly impact DEI efforts on campuses across the state. In February, Alabama moved forward with Senate Bill 129 dealing a blow to college DEI efforts, banning public institutions from supporting DEI offices or programs, Additionally, the bill includes a controversial "bathroom bill" provision, which could lead to disciplinary actions or termination for individuals using restrooms not corresponding to their assigned birth sex. And tensions simmered when the University of Texas passed a resolution preventing its student government from allocating funds towards DEI initiatives. This decision follows tensions arising from student leaders' calls for a boycott of the university's athletic events to protest against alleged mistreatment of Black student athletes. As Doug Lemov, from last week’s PTW, might say, the more equity and inclusion, the more mediocrity.

Sources

DEI or Just E (Sanity Clause, Substack)

Civil Discourse on Campus Is Put to the Test (New York Times)

Colleges Are Putting Their Futures at Risk (New York Times)

Lawmakers, donors disagreed on DEI in 2023. Now, there’s fallout (University Business)

University of Florida eliminates DEI office, DEI positions and DEI contracts (The College Fix)

Colleges Would Have to Eliminate Dozens of Jobs Under a New DEI Bill in Idaho (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Anti-DEI Legislation Moves Forward in Alabama (Inside Higher Ed)

As doors close and funding fades, students worry UT-Austin is taking Texas’ new DEI ban too far (Texas Tribune)

ShortStack: From TikTok to the Rise of Faculty Budget Activists – and much more

House Passes Bill to Force TikTok Sale From Chinese Owner or Ban the App (New York Times)
How Much Are Private-College Presidents Paid? (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Pandemic learning loss could create another enrollment hurdle. What can higher ed do? (Higher Ed Dive)
The Rise of the Faculty Budget Activists (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Students Aren’t the Obstacle to Open Debate at Harvard (Wall Street Journal)
Israeli Speaker Canceled, Event Evacuated at UC Berkeley (Inside Higher Ed)
AAUP sanctions New College of Florida and Spartanburg Community College (Higher Ed Dive)
After her scathing rebuke, Gov. Katie Hobbs must choose new leaders to fix UA (Arizona Republic)
Rich colleges leave students with crushing debt. Republicans want to fine them for it. (USA Today)
Idaho lawmakers could put University of Phoenix deal at ‘grave risk,’ official says (Higher Ed Dive)
‘Attacking the Elites’ and ‘City of Intellect’ Review: The Problems on Campus (Wall Street Journal)
Inside the Move to Make Medical School Free (Wall Street Journal)
Accuracy in Media Investigations Reveal Red State Rot in Higher Education (Daily Signal)

Education Next, Part 2: America’s Education Engine of Reform

Last week I featured the cover story of Education Week’s Winter 2024 issue: “Mediocrity,” written by education entrepreneur and bestselling author (Teach like a Champion) Doug Lemov (see here). Today we give a nod to Lemov’s prescience in suggesting that our local school’s may be national security risks in noting that yesterday the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell or face banishment from the U.S.

And as disclosed last week, I have a bias here, occasioned by the fact that I edited and wrote for Ed Next for several years. And as promised I will continue my plaudits for this unique education publication this week, Part 2, by saying that I fell in love with Ed Next as soon as I read its mission statement when it first appeared as a “journal of research and opinion,” out of a school choice panel at Stanford’s Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force in 2001. I had only recently begun my journalism turn toward education and fell in love with the new magazine’s mission statement: “In the stormy seas of school reform, this journal will steer a steady course, presenting the facts as best they can be determined, giving voice (without fear or favor) to worthy research, sound ideas, and responsible arguments. Bold change is needed in American K–12 education, but Education Next partakes of no program, campaign, or ideology. It goes where the evidence points.”

Paul Peterson, who founded EdNext and runs the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard, and later Martin West, Academic Dean and Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, have certainly steered a steady course over the last two decades, using their deep political science roots and expertise to point the monthly – now also fully digitized to become a quite smart daily if that’s your cup of scheduling tea -- toward policy without pretense, and, much more, assembling an A-Team of academic scholars who can write and whose expertise criss-crosses many disciplines and includes names like Chester Finn, Erik Hanusheck, Marci Kanstoroom, Michael Petrilli, Jay Greene, Caroline Hoxby, June Kronholz William Howell, Kirabo Jackson, Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, and dozens of other star academics and political policy poobas.

Here are just a few more from the current issue worth paying attention to:

Frederick Hess, David Steiner, Cami Anderson and Richard Kahlenberg– each a star. See Sources below. Read ‘em and sign up.

Sources

House passes bill that would force TikTok's China parent company to sell or face ban (NPR)

An A-Team of Academic Scholars (Education Next)

Rick Hess Did Google’s Gemini Just Give Us a Glimpse of Education’s Orwellian Future? Forget cheating—when used as intended, AI will stymie learning, knowledge, and inquiry

David Steiner Successes and Setbacks in Shaker Heights: A town struggles to maintain racial equity in the face of persistent gaps in student outcomes

Cami Anderson Lessons from Newark: The lineage of modern school reform and where we go next

Richard Kahlenberg A Noble, Flawed Effort: Chronicle of school desegregation since Brown shows policies have been both worthwhile and misguided (a book review).

Read ‘em and sign up.

PaideiaTimes Weekly

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