As shown by a new report, there has been a decrease in first-year college admissions by 16% for this semester. It was also reported that there has been a 4% decrease in overall undergraduate admissions as well. Arne Duncan; Former Secretary of Education, in his conversation with yahoo finance discussed what needs to be done in order to improve the higher education state with the on-going pandemic.
He went on to say,say, “Lots of young incoming freshmen are taking a gap year … so I don’t see that lasting. I hope that doesn’t last. What’s going to change in terms of higher ed, a couple of things. I think this is challenging for all of us, higher ed and K-12 as well.”
“What should stay online? What should stay virtual, what gets better delivered? Is it more effective, more efficient online versus in person? How do we continue, to reduce the cost of college? How do we make it more affordable for young people and families who are struggling before with the cost of college?” he asked.
He further said that a lot of families are having a hard time managing their finances due to the pandemic, and according to him the best solution is to lower the cost of education and improve accessibility to help millions of American families who can’t support their child’s education.
“And so many families have taken a huge financial hit through the pandemic. How do we make things more affordable, more accessible for them? So, in a really dark time, I think we’ll see more innovation. I think we’ll see more creativity in the long term that actually might be a good thing.”
Ducan thinks that the implementation of K-14 education model can make higher education more accessible for students in America.
“We need to just change our model. We have a K-12 model that served us pretty well for the past 100 years, but that’s insufficient now. I think we need to move to a K-14 model starting earlier with our babies, and then a high school diploma is obviously critical, but it’s insufficient — some form of education beyond that. Four-year universities, two-year community colleges, trade, technical, vocational training, every high school graduate has to have a plan for furthering their education once they come out of here.”
In spite of the call for serious consideration, the former secretary of Education said that he isn’t pushing for a government takeover of public education in America, but when it comes to educating U.S children, there’s definitely the need for the federal government to play the role that it is supposed to.
“When you have a pandemic that affects us all, you need a national response to it. This pandemic doesn’t know red versus blue. It doesn’t know liberal versus conservative. When you have massive unmet need, that is the role of the federal government to step up.”
According to Duncan; there’s three things that can be done by the federal government to improve education.
“One is to fight for equity … Secondly is to fight for excellence. In third, is innovation. How do we continue to scale and build upon what’s working? I think those are the appropriate roles of the federal government.”
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
