{"id":7749,"date":"2010-08-05T10:14:15","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T14:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=7749"},"modified":"2010-08-05T10:23:53","modified_gmt":"2010-08-05T14:23:53","slug":"a-major-opportunity-for-more-traditional-institutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2010\/08\/05\/a-major-opportunity-for-more-traditional-institutions\/","title":{"rendered":"A major opportunity for more “traditional” institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Shellacking the For-Profits”<\/strong><\/a> — from InsideHigherEd.com by Jennifer Epstein<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats made it clear Wednesday that their examination of for-profit higher education has only just begun, and that they plan to pursue legislation aimed at reining what they see as the sector\u2019s dishonest — if not fraudulent — practices.<\/p>\n

At a hearing on the \u201cstudent recruitment experience\u201d at for-profit colleges that began Wednesday morning and carried on through the mid-afternoon, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, outlined plans to hold more hearings on the sector, to collect broad sets of information from for-profit colleges, and to begin drafting legislation aimed at cleaning up the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is too important for the future of this country,\u201d he said. \u201cFacing the budget problems we have in the next 10 years, we just can’t permit more and more of the taxpayers’ dollars that are supposed to go for education and quality education \u2026 to be going to pay shareholders or private investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

From DSC:
\n<\/span><\/strong>Coming from a corporate background,<\/span> <\/span><\/strong>I’m thinking this morning in terms of<\/span> market share. If those of us in the more “traditional” institutions of higher ed were smart, we’d take this as\u00a0 major opportunity. The for-profits made a big mistake here — sacrificing integrity and reputation for building up their revenues; very bad move. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who once said something like, <\/span>“Glass, china, and reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.”<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

The for-profits here seemed to have taken their cues from the casino we call Wall Street. Yet another example of cold-heartedness. This is an opportunity for those institutions of higher ed to take the legitimate, effective items of what was\/is working<\/em> for the for-profits and implement them with integrity instead<\/strong>…<\/span>for example,<\/span> implementing the use of teams.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Also relevant:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n