Via Inside Higher Ed, a brilliant new approach to the problem of high tuition costs, coutesy of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (whose highly impartial Wikipedia entry is a hoot):
The runaway cost of a college education has been on the mayor's radar screen for some time. Last year, Daley suggested a fifth year of high school to address a crisis that he warned threatens to reduce the American birthrate.
On Friday, he suggested that colleges clean up their own act.
"They should cut half the courses. It would cut the cost down tremendously. What are the basic courses that you need in college? Cut some of the unnecessary courses out" to reduce administrative overhead and let students graduate sooner, he said.
That's... brilliant. While we're at it, let me be the first to suggest dealing with the high cost of food in restaurants by cutting portion sizes in half.
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And forcing people to eat longer breakfasts.
You also need to eliminate all those restaurant choices: breadsticks, vegetable broth, broiled chicken with rice or pasta with vegetarian marinara, and two choices of (seasonal) fruit are really all you need on any menu. Healthy, tasty and caters to all the necesseties.
Hasn't he noticed that this solution is already in place? It's called a community college, where they offer half the courses, you get a degree that marks your progress (about halfway to a bachelor's degree), and it costs a tiny fraction of a standard 4-yr degree. Then, you transfer, and get the bachelors for a much lower cost - this is in fact a terrific way to keep the cost of higher ed manageable, which is why it works so well (btw, for anyone who can't tell, I am not being sarcastic at all; CC is really a terrific option for many people). Of course, there is the issue of ridiculous academic snobbery to contend with...
You could also save a lot on public transit by cutting half the bus routes.
Also only pick up garbage at every other house, repair every other street, and maintain every other telephone pole.
Brilliant!
I think that what happens to most people who get community college degrees is that they transfer to a regular university and flunk out.
What kind of idiot would consider a lower birthrate a "crisis" anyway? - Answer, the kind that doesn't appreciate it being a fallacy to think that more kids means more producers to care for our elderly etc. Each new person has to be taken care of at first, and ultimately they just divide out by themselves as consumers, leaving no advantage. Increasing births to save Social Security or whatever is like drinking to cure a hangover.
tyrannogenius