The Washington Times published the editorial: Private career colleges are being destroyed.
A few bad actors—predators in government—are committed to destroying private colleges. We intend to hold those responsible accountable. More to come. (If you read comments to The Washington Times article, please know many are written by paid trolls recruited to defame me personally and to destroy private colleges.)
Carl B. Barney
April 13, 2022
I’ve been thinking a lot about this since August. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled on Brown versus the Board of Education which was the landmark decision the put in motion the end of school segregation. One of the unexpected (I assume) outcomes of this decision was wiping out nearly half of the black middle class. Why? Black students were integrated into white schools, no white students integrated into black schools. Black teachers were not welcome and the meme for that outcome was that black school teachers became janitors in white schools.
Now the war on career colleges. I did research on this a number of years ago regarding the role of career colleges in educating minority populations, specifically black Americans. At research universities they were almost non-existent, state colleges had a small percentage, community colleges were still underrepresented relative to population of minorities. In Illinois, where I conducted the research, career colleges enrolled nearly twice the represented population. They were the only educational sector where minority populations were getting a chance for higher education in any significant way.
Intentional or otherwise, the war on career colleges is a war against minority populations in the United States receiving the opportunity for higher education. It is ironic that the political party that claims to represent them is destroying their future.
In my experience, as a business owner and manager — who has hired private career college students and graduates — I can observe that for those I’ve encountered, their job focused education created valuable and useful employees. Indeed, one of my best hires, a young woman, a student in a “secretarial” college, did excellent work in my print shop. It was a sad day when she graduated and was quickly hired (at a wage far higher than I could afford) as a legal secretary at a moderate sized law firm.
While it is true that not all students are “successful” but the pool of students served by “for profit” schools tend to be less qualified than most of those attending “traditional” colleges and universities. However, it would seem that the programs offered in “for profit” schools are more tailored to the student’s needs and are focused on qualifying them for an actual job where they can earn a living.
Compare to university students with English or Social Science degrees! While there is a role for those with such degrees — they mostly seem to be to create more teachers at universities that offer courses in those areas.