A document released June 26 by the U.S. Secretary of Education's  Commission on the Future of Higher Education may strike a chord among some conservatives, but its effect has been like nails on a blackboard in many education circles. In a letter to commission chairman Charles Miller, AFT vice president William Scheuerman takes issue with the "relentlessly negative" and "unwarranted tone" of the paper, which the commission calls a "preliminary discussion draft." He warns that without substantial changes the commission’s final paper will "appear ideological, one-sided" and lacking in credibility.

The AFT has also asked Congressional leaders on the House Education and Workforce Committee and the Senate Health, Education and Pensions Committee to hold hearings to ensure that the commission's work stays focused on the task of improving the quality of higher education.

The Commission, a panel of 20 university presidents, corporate CEOs, policymakers and researchers appointed by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, has been meeting for the past year. Spellings charged the commission with "developing a comprehensive national strategy for postsecondary education that will meet the needs of America's diverse population and also address the economic and workforce needs of the country's future."

In hearings and public meetings, the commission has shown keen interest in the topics of college affordability, accountability and distance learning. Chairman Miller,  a Texas businessman and former University of Texas regent who pushed for standardized tests, has shown particular interest in creating a national database of information on students and instituting standardized testing at the college level.

In his July 5 letter, Scheuerman noted that some of the recommendations of the draft are "good and grounded in facts," such as providing more need-based financial aid to low-income students. In other cases, he notes, the draft report is off the mark in its diagnosis of what ails higher education, such as suggesting that students and professors are not engaged in the serious business of teaching, learning and assessment. Based on that false diagnosis, says Scheuerman, the draft offers the wrong prescription for improvement, such as initiating a great deal of standardized testing at the college level.

Scheuerman chastises the commission for ignoring the two most serious threats facing public higher education today: the "frightening" decline in basic state support and failure of institutions to maintain the corps of full-time tenured faculty. Further, he writes, "the report recommends less research and more teaching, as though faculty research is an illegitimate, self-serving activity rather than a central contribution to the nation’s economy, health and culture."

Even one of the commission's own members, American Council on Education president David Ward, was concerned when he saw the June discussion paper. He quickly issued a letter to the university presidents who belong to ACE, noting, "I am particularly unhappy with the tone and the hostile, almost confrontational, way it approaches higher education. Some of the recommendations are also deeply troubling."

Scheuerman says that the AFT stands ready to work with the commission to achieve the goals it initially set for itself: a world-class education system, life-long learning opportunities, affordable higher education for all and quality programs. [Barbara McKenna]

July 12, 2006