This is an excerpt of On Assignment, education writer Theresa Harrington's blog on Contra Costa County schools. Read more and post comments at IBABuzz.com/onassignment. Follow her at Twitter.com/tunedtotheresa or Facebook.com/TheresaHarringtonBANG.
MARCH 13:
You'd think Michael Kirst would have his hands full as a Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration at Stanford University and President of the state Board of Education. But in his spare time, Kirst has been working on a book with Mitchell Stevens, an associate professor of education at Stanford.
Called "Remaking College: The Changing Ecology of Higher Education," the book is a collection of essays that "challenges readers to rethink their understanding of learning after high school," according to promotional materials. Kirst and Stevens talked about the book with Carol Christ, director of the Center For Studies in Higher Education, earlier this week at UC Berkeley.
Stevens explained that the word "ecology" in the book title refers to the interdependence between "broad access" institutions of higher learning, which is evident in the Bay Area. Kirst said there are 350 such institutions, although most people don't realize that because they include for-profit colleges such as the University of Phoenix and other schools that appear to be run like businesses.AdvertisementResearch on adult education is very weak, Kirst said. Because of this, the stereotype of a single 18- to 22-year-old college student who lives on campus, doesn't work and graduates in four years persists, even though that is no longer the norm."The notion of a traditional college student is false," Stevens said.Now, many adult learners have been out of school for years, work and have children. Rising tuition costs are forcing many to question the value of an elite university education and look at other options, such as community colleges and for-profit schools, including those focused on arts and trades, Kirst and Stevens said.
"We're in the midst of a new arts and crafts movement," Stevens said. "Being skilled at making things -- the maker movement -- is hot here."
Kirst said surveys have shown that the public gives K-12 education an overall grade of a low C. But postsecondary institutions are rated B or better, with the perception that the quality is good, but the problem is financing it.
Read the full story in the San Jose Mercury News.
Michael Kirst is a professor emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the president of the California State Board of Education.
Mitchell Stevens is an associate professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the director of the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research at Stanford.
© Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305.
