Infrastructure, Sunk Costs, and Decline

If we had to start policy systems over from scratch today, which ones would we continue to do as we are doing them now? Public schools that educate for 9 months, then send kids home for 3 to forget? Criminal justice that waits for people to be victimized before leaping into action? Transportation based on a fuel that is now and ever has been finite? Higher education that takes anyone who walks through the door, interested in education or not?

The last is the premise of a provocative essay by George Leef in the Christian Science Monitor. He puts into words what many of us with, in my case, over two decades of higher ed experience have felt for many years. The idea that this nation needs more college grads is just wrong. Most jobs don't require a degree, even those that claim to as employers use the degree as a cheap way to screen applicants. The jobs with the largest needs may require training, but not a college degree. Colleges should be the preserves of those who want to learn. Amazing concept. Instead, we have uninterested students who must be appeased with lower standards and pseudo-education in order to keep the dollars coming in. As he quotes one student, "People would be amazed if they knew how easy it is to graduate without learning anything." (While I agree that college degrees don't equal college education, I don't think they'd be amazed. As I've said before, most people do know, which is why they're happy to short-change higher ed funding and sprend money on prisons instead.) Meanwhile, the students end up with loans to pay back for educations they didn't need.

My point really isn't another harangue about the lost social purpose and ethics of American higher ed. It's more to focus on how the sunk costs of policy infrastructure limit our ability to deal in new or better ways with our problems. Let's say we did what Leef says--only have "interested" students in higher ed, presumably screen by higher standards in the classroom if not in selection. How many colleges and universities would you see us needing, and how many would close? The answer to the last, I would bet, is "plenty." Enough to cripple college towns and state economies, not to mention putting all those academics on the street causing havoc.

So forget it. Can't be done. Same with prisons, law enforcement, prosecutors, etc. If we "stopped crime," think of the negative economic impact it would have. Consider how frantic people have gotten over charter schools. Part of it is legit concern, but part is just the transformation they would make in employment and organization. You can play the game with practically any policy area of any length. (The military is just too easy, though.)

Leef isn't necessarily wrong, then, just wasting his time. (Sort of like blogging.) We've bought this particular farm, and we'll work on it until it's played out. And some other nation, more adaptable, may be even starting from scratch, takes our place in the world. Rise and fall--the story of institutions, systems, nations. But thanks for the reminder, Dr. Leef.