Signs Taken For Small Wonders, Part 1 by Bill Lyne
ufwsblog.orgLike a SuperPac not coordinating with the McKenna campaign, the Seattle Times called out Democratic Leadership by name this week. They told us that a study from the University of Pennsylvania had told them that Chris Gregoire, Frank Chopp, and Lisa Brown are responsible for the fact that not enough people in Washington go to college.
A big tip of the blog hat to the folks at the Times and their capacity for imaginative leaps. The Penn report only mentions Gregoire in passing and says nothing about Chopp or Brown even though it is titled “State Policy Leadership Vacuum.” A better title might have been “Ivy League Thinking Vacuum.”
The study starts off well, detailing how Washington’s public universities are among the best, most efficient, and most productive in the country. It then stays strong, pointing out how underfunded and deeply cut our universities have been.
But then, after a brief detour for some obligatory K-12 bashing, the report goes right off the logical rails, telling us that the solution for saving an excellent system that has been devastated by relentless budget cuts is to spend money on more bureaucracy and new layers of administration.
Being the college professors we are here at the blog, we try to steer clear of making fun of academics who ignore the obvious in favor far-fetched theory and lugubrious detail. But in this case, it’s pretty tempting to put on our best James Carville drawl, turn to our colleagues at Penn and say, “It’s the money, Stupid!”
Which is something we might also say to our friends at the Times. The next time they want to bash Democrats (and here we mean all of them, not just the guv, the speaker, and the majority leader) for lack of leadership, they should point to Washington’s ridiculous tax policy, and the way that Tim Eyman and millions and millions of corporate dollars have hijacked Washington’s future. You can’t rescue Washington’s state universities with Ivy League studies, you’re gonna need some money.
--
web page: www.ufws.org
blog: www.ufwsblog.org
unsubscribe: http://www.ufws.org/mail/mail.cgi/u/ufww_news/
)