Monday, June 15, 2009

Peter Wood on Proposed Expansion of Higher Ed   [George Leef]

Peter Wood has written an excellent analysis of the latest justification being offered by the higher-ed establishment for federal help in expanding the number of kids in college, namely that we're losing our edge in competition and innovation.

Innovation and enhanced economic competitiveness won't come from luring more marginal students away from careers as electricians, insurance adjusters, truck drivers, etc., to go to college and earn a degree of some sort. The notion that there's a direct relationship between the amount of formal education people have and their innovativeness is erroneous. America beat the heck out of the rest of the world in that regard back when it was rare for Americans to go past high school. They kept right on learning, of course, but not in classrooms.

The key is not the number of seat-hours in front of teachers and professors. The key is the freedom to try new ideas and the prospect of reward if you come up with something good. The old Soviet Union had a lot of highly educated people, but little freedom to try new things and scant reward for those who built better mousetraps. As we regulate business more and more, we're moving toward the Soviets; ditto for our tax system, which increasingly punishes success in the marketplace. To those clamoring for more federal subsidization of higher education because we need to become more economically competitive and innovative, I say: Come back when you're serious.

06/15 02:28 PMShare