The LearnShop

Welcome to TheLearnShop.  Authentically wonderful experiences are precious finds.  We connect the curious with cool learning experiences.  Join the #1 conversation about lifelong learning, elevated consciousness, and personal and civic enrichment.

There is no idea so powerful as an idea whose time has come.~Victor Hugo

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU, 2011) Policy Brief features a series of issues that point to a single theme: uncertainty.  The time has come to implement a comprehensive, and solution-centric inventory of the policies that regulate an academic model that is clearly failing (Alladin, 1990; Smith, 2004).  Schools, social media channels, Washington, and mainstreet are abuzz with chatter.  The discourse is passionate and pervasive.  ‘Uncertainty’ peddling is meeting demand for a progressive response to cultivating a knowledge economy (RSA, 2011).  Accordingly, uncertainty lingers due to a persistent numbing of progressive thought (RSA, 2011; Watson, 2010). We must continue to “challenge the tyranny of the idea that there are no alternatives” (RSA, 2011).

Uncertainty  is also a defining characteristic of the market environment. While higher education is a complex market with a high barrier to entry (Daft, 2010), the industry once enjoyed a more sure outlook for the future (Smith, 2004).  Intuitively, stakeholders and onlookers alike know this has changed. Coupled with the numerous issues cited by AASCU (2011), the truth of this assumption is both intuitive and apparent.

Issue #8 “Economic and workforce development” most closely parallels the questions everday people are asking: What’s in it for me?  Learning for learning’s sake is simply not working.  While all other issues are legitimate concerns, they are symptoms of an over-patched and obsolesced infrastructure.  Issue #8 raises fundamental questions about purpose and execution.  Suffice it to say that if proper job creation were not a problem, the state of the economy would be decidedly different and this article would be markedly less interesting.  Many have proposed ideas to remedy these ills, but only recently has academe given serious attention to non-traditional solutions (Smith, 2004).  How, then, will policymakers adapt to these developments when they outpace the legislative process?  Time is of essence.

The institutions and models that cornered the market in the knowledge economy 100 years ago have lost market share (RSA, 2011).  The hard truth is that accomplishing a goal in the information age simply does not necessitate the same volume or types of resources as in previous eras.  Further, eliminating obsolesced systems and processes will create new opportunities.  But who will volunteer to be eliminated?

The conclusion of the AASCU (2011) article still leaves the reader without closure. At this point, the discourse narrows to the question of competition, but anchors itself in the more predictable conversation about for-profits.  For-profits are not the only competition, especially if the regulatory framework discussed in item #10 begins to shift. Pity the authors chose not delve further to embrace the ambiguity and potential root cause of our systemic vulnerability: There is general uncertainty about the future of education.   Though hardly an empirical addition to a list formed by a policy think tank, the aforementioned is indeed a problem (RSA, 2011) worthy of isolation.  This is more than a financial matter.  It’s a matter of purpose. Without a firm purpose, what then is the strategy?  It is difficult to quantify value when the target is moving.

The article also fails to make mention of the problem of ‘shared language.’  This is a common phenomenon in any system, as failed communication can halt even the best laid plans.  Policies that govern the education system should be both sufficiently broad, and sufficently clear (Alladin, 1990; Chait et al., 2005). When we speak of quality, are we speaking the same language?  When we say “student-centered” learning, what do we mean?

In a time where states need the most help, the federal government is pulling out of the business of bailouts.  The good news is that with a modicum of creativity, there is yet hope.  “Where it might be interesting is genuinely low-overhead approaches to education. Where rather than sort of shaving off a bit and trying to do a cheaper version of the same thing, you ask these fundamental questions about what it is that actually makes a school” [sic] (RSA, 2011)?

***

Alladin, I. (1990). Equality and Excellence in Education: Contradictions of Recent Educational Reforms. Education & Society, 8(2), 46-53. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) (2011, September). Top 10 State Policy Issues for 2011 [Report].  Retrieved from http://www.aascu.org/uploadedFiles/AASCU/Content/Root/PolicyAndAdvocacy/PolicyPublications/PM-Top10for2011.pdf

Chait, R. P., Ryan, W. P., & Taylor, B. E. (2005). Governance as leadership: Reframing athe
work of non-profit boards. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) (2011, June 20). Keri Facer: Education for Uncertain Futures. RSA Events. Podcast retrieved from http://www.thersa.org/events/video/vision-videos/education-for-uncertain-futures

Smith, P. (2004) The quiet crisis:  How higher education is failing America.  Boston, MA: Anker Publishing Company

Watson, R. (2010). Future Minds.  London, UK: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.