'ASSES IN CLASSES' DOESN'T WORK

In the late 60's or early 70's Athens State was struggling with low enrollment numbers and shrinking support from their primary benefactor the North Alabama Conference of the Methodist Church. Fortunately the President, a dynamic little Methodist preacher and educator, Dr. Sidney Sandridge was at the helm and plugging leaks like a man bailing water out of a sinking boat. Dr. Sandridge pulling out all the stops called in a consultant to advise the college on raising it's enrollment as one of the means to increase the schools profile and hopefully attract more money to continue in operation. Being the good Christian he was Dr. Sandridge was always amused by the bluntness of the consultant's description summarizing the situation the good President had explained to him in their initial meeting. Smiling, Dr. Sandridge would relate how the consultant, without regard to Dr. Sandridge's credentials as a minister and university President, frankly told the good Dr. he needed 'asses in classes', plain and simple.

Athens State survived and is now prospering. The term the consultant used has become the rallying call to our education system for all the wrong reasons. Administrators sometime since the 60's have figured out that these 'asses in classes' are the keys to milking the system for all its worth. Student enrollment is the primary goal for most of these institutions of higher learning to the detriment of the quality of education given, the burden on the taxpayer and the long term well being of our economy and work force.

We have mislead a large portion of our young population to believe that they must go to college. Articles and advertisement are prominent telling of the benefits of college educations. A giant industry has taken advantage of this promise of lifetime success by offering low cost loans to anyone that wants to take advantage of the opportunity. Public funds are poured into grants and scholarships to afford everyone this opportunity. The problem is these young people have no idea what they want to do or what to do with the education. The Occupy Wall Street participants are walking around complaining about owing tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans because the have a Phd in the Humanities or French Art. Somebody should have told them there were no jobs in these areas and especially no income to repay those loans. The problem is the banks have all been reimbursed by the Government for the losses on these loans, the bonuses have been paid and now the former student and the taxpayers are holding the bag. As Naven said in he 'Jerk', this has turned into a 'for profit deal'.

I was shocked to learn that one community college in the area does not even have an attendance policy for students. The thing that matters is to get the numbers, 'asses in classes'. The state continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build facilities to house this inflated enrollment while the 'occupy anywhere' group continues to grow.

In 1946 I had two uncles come home from WWII. They lived in Haleyville and used the GI Bill to enroll in Auburn University wanting to become electrical engineers. They worked any job they could and co-op whenever possible to obtain those degrees. They enjoyed successful careers and were productive citizens. They knew what they wanted, were willing to pay the price and lived the American Dream. I believe any citizen of this great country deserves an education. I don't care if the government pays for it so long as the student knows what he wants, is willing to sacrifice for it, understands the risk and puts some skin in the game. We don't need a vehicle to provide huge salaries and benefits for people that excel in only putting 'asses in classes'.