Column 64 for December 17, 2000

A little rain comes to town, and miraculously our water shortages have evaporated. What a pleasure it is to take a little longer shower with a clear conscience.

You may not know, but Governor Barnes is not the only one issuing "report cards" for our schools. On November 30^th, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education issued a state-by-state report card on higher education, called "Measuring Up 2000." This report makes for some interesting reading. In their comparison, we did not fare too well…

In Preparation we received a D+, with comments such as "The state’s 8^th graders perform poorly… indicating that they are not well prepared for challenging high school courses," and "Very low proportions of high school juniors and seniors score well on college entrance exams."

In Participation, we failed with an F. Compared to other states, a very small percentage of students in Georgia continue on to college immediately after high school. Additionally, an "extremely small" percentage of working-age adults take advantage of any training beyond high school.

In spite of our Hope Scholarship program, we didn’t fare much better in Affordability, receiving another D+. Comments included "Georgia requires families to devote a relatively large share of family income, even after financial aid, to attend the state’s public colleges and universities," and also "Georgia has invested little in financial aid for low income students and families."

We received our best grade in Completion, a B-. The comments were better, "...a large proportion of students complete certificates and degrees relative to the number enrolled," however they caution that "comparatively few first-time, full-time college students earn a bachelor’s degree within five years of enrolling."

Finally, in Benefits, we received a C. "Only a fair proportion of Georgia residents have a bachelor’s degree and this impairs the state economically. Also, a very low proportion of Georgia’s adults perform well on national assessments of high-level literacy."

This report is available online at http://measuringup2000.highereducation.org/ It’s "interactive" and quite a bit of fun to look at, even if the results, at least for us Georgians, are not too great. Take a look yourself and let me know what you think.

I’ve got to finish up by repeating how proud and excited I am for my son Kevin. What a fantastic, once in a lifetime opportunity he has to serve this term as a Clerk at the US Supreme Court. The insight he is gaining on the election cases is something I hope he’ll be able to share with me someday.

Have a safe and satisfying holiday season. Peace. tomiswho@mindspring.com