They are many good non-profits that get all their operating revenue from “endowments”and government grants. I don’t think the problem with higher learning is competition or the indirect financial incentives, I think it is a failure of mission. For too long higher learning has had a mission disconnected from the economic outcomes of its students. This is what needs to change. The mission should be preparing every student for their next step in achieving an economic self-sufficient life. There should be no acceptable rarified air of academic achievement that does not connect with economic outcomes. Today the industry cranks out hundreds of thousands of indebted graduates with limited skills needed to join the workforce. Higher learning should also have a mission of helping students and faculty launch private enterprise from its various labs.
There are many. I live where the county food bank does great work. I work with another called the Health Education Council that does great work. They are mission focused... and their mission is dialed into real outcomes. I run a business that is a 501 C 4 that is not a typical non-profit... we make 98% of our revenue from business transactions, but I plow our net excess back into the business focused on our mission to help create and retain jobs in geographic territory where there is an oversupply of labor relative to the supply of jobs.
What I see in education in general is this mistaken drift to "making good citizens" as the mission. The problem is this is a subjective mission and it is corruptible. A mission of preparing each and every student for their next step toward a goal of economic self-sufficiency... that can be measured... it is objective. If the industry of higher learning was required to adopt that mission and performance assessment of the faculty was based on that and not how many research papers they get published... the entire industry would shift and it would not matter where their operating revenue came from.
Today there are private schools that are funded almost 100% from student fees (including student loans which is another topic) and yet they also have this problem of providing an education that isn't just fluff... not really helpful for the student in launching a career.
I do agree that there is a financial disconnect between the service delivery of higher learning and the source of funding, but I think the low service quality problem is one of broken mission and not the source of funding. If we were assessing the performance of educators on their outcomes preparing students to launch their careers and not the typical academic ivory tower prestige crap, the value of higher learning would rise tremendously.
They are many good non-profits that get all their operating revenue from “endowments”and government grants. I don’t think the problem with higher learning is competition or the indirect financial incentives, I think it is a failure of mission. For too long higher learning has had a mission disconnected from the economic outcomes of its students. This is what needs to change. The mission should be preparing every student for their next step in achieving an economic self-sufficient life. There should be no acceptable rarified air of academic achievement that does not connect with economic outcomes. Today the industry cranks out hundreds of thousands of indebted graduates with limited skills needed to join the workforce. Higher learning should also have a mission of helping students and faculty launch private enterprise from its various labs.
Which non-profits do you have in mind?
There are many. I live where the county food bank does great work. I work with another called the Health Education Council that does great work. They are mission focused... and their mission is dialed into real outcomes. I run a business that is a 501 C 4 that is not a typical non-profit... we make 98% of our revenue from business transactions, but I plow our net excess back into the business focused on our mission to help create and retain jobs in geographic territory where there is an oversupply of labor relative to the supply of jobs.
What I see in education in general is this mistaken drift to "making good citizens" as the mission. The problem is this is a subjective mission and it is corruptible. A mission of preparing each and every student for their next step toward a goal of economic self-sufficiency... that can be measured... it is objective. If the industry of higher learning was required to adopt that mission and performance assessment of the faculty was based on that and not how many research papers they get published... the entire industry would shift and it would not matter where their operating revenue came from.
Today there are private schools that are funded almost 100% from student fees (including student loans which is another topic) and yet they also have this problem of providing an education that isn't just fluff... not really helpful for the student in launching a career.
I do agree that there is a financial disconnect between the service delivery of higher learning and the source of funding, but I think the low service quality problem is one of broken mission and not the source of funding. If we were assessing the performance of educators on their outcomes preparing students to launch their careers and not the typical academic ivory tower prestige crap, the value of higher learning would rise tremendously.