ENG200 "The free education debate"

Written and Submitted  May 2017 for ENG 200 Mendocino College (aka College of the Redwoods)

"The free education debate"

       There is a growing concern that our citizens are poorly equipped to handle the rigors of society today. The challenges our communities face are, violence and crime, depression and physical illness. The cost to taxpayers in California is great for these situations, and many are struggling toward a solution to stem the tide. Yet there is a common denominator for them all; lack of education.

       I propose that California take a bold move in reducing the burden that the cost of poor education has in our society. When California weighs the cost of providing education versus the taxpayer cost of caring for the undereducated, offering education makes more sense economically. A population with higher education will have a positive impact on the entire society and cost the taxpayers less in overall care. The state of California should provide education through the community college system for free.

       One reason is from Jere Behman & Nevzer Stacey. They have a compelling book: Social Benefits of Education on why education will benefit our society. One of significance is lower rates of crime and violence. Crime and violence are a great harm to our society. California has the largest prison expenditure of the states at $4.2 billion annually according to the US Department of Justice. The Legislative Analyst's Office tells us that California taxpayers spend just over $70,000 per year per inmate. In-state public college tuition averages $24,000 per year per student says College Data. Ruben Rosario reports that up to 70% of prison inmates are functionally illiterate. It doesn't take a college degree to question the State budget spending priorities.

       But would educating the masses really make crime rates drop? According to research, higher education does indeed lead to a decrease in crime. Lochner & Moretti (2004) found that schooling significantly reduces the rate of incarceration. They further estimated that the reduction in crime would be a significant 14-26%.

       While at first glance the figures look promising that higher education is a step to turning around our social problems, opponents would argue it's not that simple. There is a national effort to stem the rising sea of undereducated citizens. The US Department of Education, Federal Pell Grant Program spends 31.4 billion dollars annually of monies that is largely unaccounted for. Information such as whether the recipients do actually graduate are not regularly generated. Sarah Butrymowicz analyzed 82 public and private collegiate institutes and several thousands of Pell Grant recipients. Her determination is that "more than a third of Pell recipients at those schools hadn’t earned degrees even after six years."

       While Butrymowicz's information is valuable, I propose that holding a degree is not of a primary importance to our equation. Rather, it is the consideration of higher education that performs the social benefits. Extended training by way of picking up a certificate for example.

       Certificates are becoming a popular way to earn a higher rank in the employment sector, says Paul Fain, whose research reveals that 1 in 10 American workers hold some form of certificate, which bolsters their earnings by 20% over those who only hold a high school diploma.
       A considerable segment of time spent in college gaining a degree is focused on general education requirements. Though this writer does not doubt the life-long benefits of an English class for example, Campus Explorer explains succinctly the benefits of certificate programs over traditional degrees:

" You don’t have to spend years at college pursuing a degree... Most certificates can be earned in less than a year - some in as short as a few weeks. Because they take less time to complete, they also cost a lot less than earning a degree."

       Beings that certificates cost less than a degree, it also stands to reason that California would be able to provide free education for less than originally thought. Assuming that certificate programs have the same benefits as traditional collegiate degrees, on the social benefits. As many statistics queries allow answers only for High School or College, Certificates or Postsecondary Education credits are simply not reported.

       A second reason for providing higher education is that there is evidence mental depression is linked to lower education. Vicki Helgeson has determined that the more educated a person becomes, the less risk there is of depression. "Depression is large among those with lower levels of education and disappears among those with a college degree or higher."

       Our society is plagued by depression. According to Healthline, depression affects 1 in every 10 people with some states in the US reporting higher ratios. To make this reason more valuable, the number of diagnosed depressed cases increases by approximately 20% each year. To show us the magnitude of money lost solely on medical costs we can turn to Karampampa, Borgstrom and Jonsson's study of the economic burden of depression on society:

" A cross-sectional, prospective ... estimated that total 6-month direct health care costs for patients with major depression were US $3,113 (2003 prices)."

       In addition to mental health, a third reason for providing higher education would be physical health. The number one killer in the United States is Heart Disease according to the Center for Disease Control. 28.4 million adults are diagnosed annually which is 11.7% of our population. Diabetes is a close contender in health hazards, affecting 9.3% of the population, or 29.1 million people. The amount of people with heart disease and diabetes combined is roughly the population of the states of both California and Texas.

       The National Bureau of Economic Research's Les Picker has determined that additional education lowers mortality, reduces the risk of heart disease and diabetes:

"People value health highly. As a result, the health returns to education can outweigh even the financial returns. Many estimates suggest that a year of education raises earnings by about 10 percent, or perhaps $80,000 in present value over the course of a lifetime. Using data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS), the authors find that one more year of education increases life expectancy by 0.18 years, using a 3 percent discount rate, or by 0.6 years without any discounting. Assuming that a year of health is worth $75,000 - a relatively conservative value - this translates into about $13,500 to $44,000 in present value. These rough calculations suggest that the health returns to education increase the total returns to education by at least 15 percent, and perhaps by as much as 55 percent."

       Social order, mental and physical health and well being aside, what happens if we do have a more educated society? Will higher education be devalued, if over the current 30% of Americans hold some kind of degree? Should we reduce the collegiate pool in the workforce in order to keep the well paying jobs prestigious? Are we diluting the labor pool and raising standards that are, even now, hard to meet? To surmise the above into one succinct question would be to ask: Do we, as a nation, need educated citizens? No, we don't. According to Neal McCluskey:

"..the large majority of job categories expected to grow the most in the coming years do not require postsecondary training. Of the 30 occupations that the U.S. Department of Labor projects to see the greatest total growth by 2022, only 10 typically need some sort of postsecondary education... Most of the new jobs will require a high school diploma or less."

       On paper it is easy to consider our citizens as an economic means to an end, as McCluskey seems to do. We are each just another small cog in the massive, grinding gears of the industrial revolution. Robert David Steele states quite plainly why we in fact should not come to that conclusion:

"Democracy is by definition self-governance of, by, and for educated informed citizens. When the state fails to educate its citizens to the fullest extent possible, corruption rules and plutocracy/kleptocracy kick in."."

       Treating our citizens as mere fodder for the labor pool may "lead to situations where gross human rights violations happen all for the sake of a better economy." Says Sophia in 2013. Now in 2017 with our Presidential elect mounting an assault on democratic freedoms, human rights, gender equality, reform and environmental sanctions, those words were prophetic.

       While no one is directly saying an undereducated society is desired, the real arguments are over how to provide it for free. This has been a controversial issue as early as 1890 with the introduction of the Morrill Act, which then took 20 years to pass. Director, Center for Studies in Higher Education at Berkeley's Carol Christ agrees that we do need more public investment for higher education though funding is not best used to provide free college tuition for all. In her words:

"We need programs that help students succeed who come to college with less preparation; we need more investment in the community colleges where such students tend to begin post-secondary education; ..."

       Georgetown University Center's director Anthony P. Carnevale will offer the certificate programs are a valuable tool to raise education levels. Instead of free college, he would say “postsecondary education and training for all” Though he admits that "doesn’t fit on anybody’s bumper sticker.”

       In summary, while we realize that the economic, social benefit for education may vastly outweigh the current trend undereducated depressed and unhealthy citizens, California and the nation should educate the masses as a direct way to improve physical and mental health, reduce crime. Perhaps it will be one of our new crop of postsecondary educated citizens drafting an economic plan of tuition that all can agree upon.

Works Cited

Behrman Jere R &  Nevzer Stacey, The Social     Benefits of Education, Chapter 5. Family   Structure, Fertility, and Child Welfare         http://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/162839 11      May        2017

Butrymowicz, Sarah, The Hechinger Report, Billions   in Pell dollars go to students who       never     graduate,  http://hechingerreport.org/billions-in-    pell-dollars-go-to-students-who-never-  graduate/  11 May 2017

Campus Explorer, What Are Certificate Programs?        http://www.campusexplorer.com/college-     advice-tips/D66E8AB9/What-Are- Certificate-    Programs/ 17 May 2017

Carnevale, Anthony P, quoted in Paul Fain's, Inside    Higher Ed, Community College Not     Just        Degrees,        https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/       06/certificates-are-     misunderstood-    credentials-pay-mostly-men 17 May 2017

Center For Disease Control, Fast Stats, Heart      Disease,         https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/heart-      disease.htm 17 May 2017

Christ, Carol, Berkeley Blog, Higher education:   Should college be free for all?

       http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2015/05/23/higher-     education/ 11 May 2017  

College Data, What's the Price Tag for a College Education?        http://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content       _payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=1  0064 11 May       2017

Fain, Paul, Inside Higher Ed, Not Just Degrees        https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/       06/certificates-are-misunderstood-  credentials-   pay-mostly-men 17 May 2017

HealthLine, Depression,        http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/st  atistics-       infographic 17 May 2017

Helgeson, Vicki, S. Psychology of Gender 5th Edition Routledge, ISBN 9781138186873       page 648,     Print.

Karampampa, K, F. Borgström, and B. Jönsson, Economic burden of depression on    society by        http://www.medicographia.com/2011/10/econo  mic-burden-of-    depression-on-society/ 17 May       2017

Legislative Analyst's Office, California's Annual Cost   to Incarcerate an Inmate in Prison,        http://www.lao.ca.gov/PolicyAreas/CJ/
       6_cj_inmatecost  11 May 2017

Lochner, Lance & Enrico Moretti  American Economic Association, The Effect of Education on Crime:   Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-      Reports,  American Economic Review vol. 94,    no. 1, March 2004,        https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/
       00282804322970751 11 May 2017

McCluskey, Neal, CATO Institute, Community College        Courtesy of the Federal Taxpayer? No Thanks        https://www.cato.org/blog/community-college-   courtesy-federal-taxpayer-no-thanks 11 May       2017

Picker, Les, The National Bureau of Economic      Research, Effects of Education on Health,        http://www.nber.org/digest/mar07/w12352.
       html 17 May 2017

Rosario, Ruben , Twin Cities Pioneer Press, Troubled youths get a message of hope        http://www.twincities.com/2010/11/13/ruben-    rosario-troubled-youths-get-a-      message-of- hope/ Date 11 May 2017

Sophia, Re: Mike Rose's, Equity Alliance, Why Do We        Educate Our Children?        http://www.niusileadscape.org/bl/why-do-we-     educate-our-children/ 11 May 2017

Steele, Robert David, TDJ World News, Should the     uneducated be allowed to vote?

       http://thedailyjournalist.com/elcafe/should-the-       uneducated-be-allow-to-vote/  11   May 2017

US Department of Education, Federal Pell Grant Program, https://www2.ed.gov/programs/
fpg/index.html 11 May 2017

US Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs,        Bureau of Justice Statistics Special       Report,        https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf        11 May 2017