Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Saving UCLA

Matt Kahn of the Environental and Urban bnlog says we should consider Gene Block's op ed, Gen Block being the president of UCLA, from the LA Times:
Ten years ago, students paid about $3,700 to attend UCLA. Next fall it will be $11,600. The governor has predicted that, without passage of the ballot measure, annual UC tuition could rise to $20,000 to $25,000.

If that scenario comes to pass, a year at UCLA, including housing, books and other living costs, could easily exceed $40,000. That is a frightening number for any parent of modest means trying to send their son or daughter to the University of California. For students attempting to save money by attending community college, budget cuts will restrict opportunities for many students to use this pathway.

And what of the legislators who have refused Californians the right to decide whether they want to face such a scenario? Perhaps they will excuse me, but I detect a certain irony in their posture. A majority of them graduated from California's public universities and colleges, and greatly benefited from the high-quality, low-cost education they received.

And he goes on to explain that we have Ivy League colleges for the middle class because of California tax payers.

No, we have Wiki for free, a big problem for traditional classroom, big solution for education.. If I am a smart kid who likes physics, then my first stop is not Printeton or UCLA, my first stop and last stop ends up being Wiki.  I can see retaining the labs, auditoriums, stadiums and gym.  Sell the classrooms, skip the lectures, dump the fantasy about Ivy League colleges.

What do we do about university presidents stuck in a delusion? 

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