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Well-educated people also possess an enlarged capacity for independent thought. The ability to think, to develop belief systems that heed the higher callings of justice and empathy, serve as bulwarks against corrupt institutions that enforce blind obedience and destroy lives.

With such public good clearly evident to anyone who cares to look, one wonders why Gov. Tom Corbett persists in viewing public education as a private entitlement rather than a public investment. In only two years the governor will have slashed more money from higher education than all previous Pennsylvania governors combined since the Morrill Act [of 1862] was ratified.

Although Gov. Corbett has not stated his agenda explicitly, one can surmise from his actions that he would greatly reduce public support for higher education and transfer the state’s educational obligations to private or for-profit online schools.

Such a move would be a disaster for Pennsylvania. In the first place, for-profit online schools - the kind Charles Zogby managed before he became Mr. Corbett’s budget director - have a dismal record of achievement. Despite the copious influx of venture capital and student financial aid, for-profit universities such as Capella, Phoenix and Walden have an aggregate graduation rate of only 22 percent - an astounding 43 percentage points below the Pennsylvania public college average.

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My former English professor and drinking friend brilliantly tears apart Governor Corbett’s proposed slashes to higher education in Pennsylvania’s latest budget. (via fortuneandglory)
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  10. This was featured in #Education
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