I wonder if the Governor has considered that raising the expectation to No Child Left Un-degreed, so that every student that doesn’t drop out will attain an associate’s degree, will necessarily burden the university system with great numbers of graduate students. We already have created a demand for baccalaureate degrees to distinguish between indifferent students and those capable of doing the work we once expected of apprentices. As Gilbert & Sullivan noted, If ev’ryone is somebody, then no one’s anybody, and when marketing skills on the resume, the name of the game is product differentiation … ipso facto, more graduate students.
Is Easley’s proposal a tacit recognition that twelfth grade is not really necessary for a complete secondary education, and much of what is done in late high school and early college should be combined? Otherwise, how does Learn and Earn get six years of traditional instruction — grades 9-12 plus two years of community college — into grade 9-“grade 13”?
Does this mean we increase the compulsory attendance age to 19?
Do we divert the money from the UNC system budget and drastically reduce their freshman and sophomore enrollment, since all the in-state students will be getting their AA and AS degrees at the local high school?
The questions raised are so interesting. And expensive, no doubt, to implement.
