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A little online education for the folks in Sacramento

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times:

In a crossing of swords between academics and politicians, the University of California’s top two faculty leaders on Friday strongly criticized legislation that would allow students bumped from overcrowded core courses at state schools to instead take online courses from other colleges or private companies. The bill, authored by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), “raises grave concerns,” Robert L. Powell and Bill Jacob, the chairman and vice chairman of the UC system’s faculty Senate, wrote in a letter to colleagues. Among other things, “the clear self-interest of for-profit corporations in promoting the privatization of public higher education through this legislation is dismaying,” they said…

Full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-online-classes-20130316,0,6168458.story

Note that the main problem here is that the idea is increasingly afoot that the funding issues of UC will be resolved by online ed.  The state doesn’t want to pay the full fare anymore.  Political leaders don’t like tuition increases. Therefore – the thinking goes – the issue will be resolved through the “efficiency” of online ed. By endorsing the online approach, state political leaders a) show how modern and up-to-date and tech-savvy they are* and b) can remain in denial on the funding dilemma. All we can say to our friends in Sacramento is “dream on”:

*Note how the conservative FlashReport.org links to the LA Times‘ article:

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