John Locke Foundation President John Hood offered criticism this week to both the current and previous occupants of North Carolina’s executive mansion. The News & Observer quoted Hood in an article comparing the size of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s staff to that of her predecessor. The Fayetteville Observer is among the newspapers that picked up the Associated Press’ version of the same story. Hood also had a chance to explain to WTVD Television viewers that former Gov. Mike Easley deserves at least some of the blame for the state’s current economic woes. That story, along with a Hood Daily Journal, ended up featured in the N.C. Senate Republicans’ daily e-mail of top news items. Hood also shared his insights with a national audience in the past week, as National Review printed his article suggesting positive changes to higher education policy in the United States. (While challenging young people to achieve their potential is
praiseworthy, the president is mistaken on two important points. First,
the goal of leading the world in college graduation is neither
achievable (because of our demographics) nor particularly worthwhile.
Far greater economic and social benefits would accrue from boosting
high-school graduation and encouraging hands-on vocational and
technical training. Second, spending tens of billions of additional
federal dollars on grants, loans, and tax credits is unlikely to boost
college graduation much anyway — though it may well boost attendance,
and thus revenue for the colleges.)