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JOE FARBEANN: Right-wing attacks on the liberal arts: Standardized testing will hurt colleges
by Joe Farbeann
Columnists | 10/10/06
Posted online at 2:33 AM EST on 10/10/06
If the Bush administration is serious about improving higher education, it should seek to make it more affordable and accessible to all citizens. But while the cost of education continues to skyrocket, the Bush administration has taken crucial Pell Grants away from 81,000 students and reduced the size of the awards for another 500,000.
As working Americans find it increasingly difficult to send their kids to college, the Bush administration is ignoring their plight in favor of spending $2 billion a week in Iraq and cutting taxes. When pressed to improve higher education in response to competition from Asian and European universities, the administration offers only the failed idea of standardized tests. International schools do not thrive due to standardized tests, however, but instead succeed by charging students significantly less tuition than American schools, attracting bright and promising students from all economic classes. The administration's plan for "reform" is a bad idea for currently enrolled students and it does nothing to help those who are trying to find the money to attend college.
As working Americans find it increasingly difficult to send their kids to college, the Bush administration is ignoring their plight in favor of spending $2 billion a week in Iraq and cutting taxes. When pressed to improve higher education in response to competition from Asian and European universities, the administration offers only the failed idea of standardized tests. International schools do not thrive due to standardized tests, however, but instead succeed by charging students significantly less tuition than American schools, attracting bright and promising students from all economic classes. The administration's plan for "reform" is a bad idea for currently enrolled students and it does nothing to help those who are trying to find the money to attend college.
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