Using Old School Tricks on New Schools

Don’t let President Obama’s recent stimulus to community colleges fool you. He’s using an old trick I first saw politicians and college administrators use in the 60’s when dealing with upset people.

A trick is to appoint the leadership of grassroots protests or movements to an investigative committee. The committee is then tasked to research the facts of the grievance, find a solution, and report back to the appointing authority at some distant date. The college administrators (and Bill Clinton) were masterful at picking dates that coincided with spring break or some other major holiday so no one was there to hear the results.

It kept the protesters busy and out of the way while the program they were protesting solidified itself. It also made the protesters feel like they were actually doing something.

President Obama’s “new college plan” is like that.

This week he “unveiled” a $12 billion plan to help community colleges prepare people for those new green jobs he says he is inventing. What he is really doing is keeping people busy while his 30 various Czars solidify programs that are changing this country into something that would make the founding fathers weep.

Just as a wise mother carries a coloring book when she knows there is a long car trip coming up, Obama is searching for ways to keep us busy while he drives us further into this economic mess. He’s busy so he’s given us something to do.

And besides, the unemployment rate seems smaller when you put the unemployed in school learning things they don’t need.

We don’t need community colleges to teach courses on “green” technology. We’ve already got plenty of people inventing wonderful green stuff and thousands more studying to create more.

People who went to work in textile mills didn’t have to go to community college first to know that there was a cloth making industry. Auto workers didn’t start off studying assembly lines or emissions systems. Most of the jobs we are losing are jobs where the industry itself taught interested workers how to operate the press or loom and then counted on them to do so responsibly. The wind generator industry will do the same thing.

So when Mr. Obama sends the released workers of GM off to community college under a bevy of taxpayer provided scholarships remember that he is just keeping them busy until he thinks of something else.

Those now unemployed people were intelligent enough to take learning skills taught in high school, learn various manufacturing skills, and be productive. They recognized the importance of responsibility and following instructions. It was GM who taught them how to use the machines and build cars, not school. Neither will community college teach them to run wind generators or build solar panels.

We don’t need to teach people about the industry to get them to work there, we need to put an ad in the papers saying, “Wanted – workers to build _____ . Must be physically capable and willing to learn new skills.”


The $12 Billion Mr. Obama has promised the community colleges would be better spent lowering taxes on industries that create jobs than on giving the unemployed busy work.

Your time would be better spent writing your federal, state and local representatives about all the things that concern you. Agree with you or not, they tally your opinions and know that people who write also vote.