Opinion: Seliger in excellent position to help CC

Let’s talk college education. More specifically, let’s talk Clarendon College, the Pear of the Panhandle – one of my favorite places in Donley and Gray counties (a name dear to my heart). In the past, Governor Rick – our not-so-sterling example of how-to-run for president – has not treated Clarendon College so well. I still gag ever time I’m reminded of his profoundly inept debating utterances. Anyway, Governor Rick aside, perhaps sunnier skies may be on CC’s horizon.

You see, Amarillo Republican state Senator Kel Seliger will chair the Senate Higher Education Committee. It’s a key position because the Higher Education Committee controls legislation impacting state-funded colleges and universities – which in case you haven’t noticed, includes Clarendon College. As state Senator Robert Duncan recently stated, “Sen. Seliger is certainly a great benefit to our region because of Texas Tech, West Texas A&M, Angelo State, and all our community colleges.”

Hopefully, Clarendon College and the other community colleges will be treated better than they have been in the past. Governor Rick and his miserly minions have apparently decided to celebrate all things ignorant and stupid, and continue to cut spending on education. I’m sure he must have some brain power tucked away somewhere; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been elected governor multiple times, and served as Dubya’s fair-haired boy for many years. Perhaps he’s one of those really smart people who just publicly come across as stupid, sort of like Mitt. As least he doesn’t cry in public, like our overly sensitive Speaker of the House.

Anyway, where was I? Hopefully, under Sen. Seliger, Clarendon College and the other community colleges will be treated better. He seems to be committed to our community college system, which has the potential to play an enormous role in America’s future prosperity. In Texas, community colleges should become the backbone of economic development and growth over the next few decades, particularly in sustainable energy, etc.

Clarendon College needs to find a way to play an important role in how we redefine the role of higher education in Texas and America. Hopefully, higher education and Clarendon College will become a legislative priority in January. We desperately need to strengthen our education system, at all levels, during the next legislature. Let’s hope that Senator Seliger has more salt than Governor Rick.

Colleges need to be rated by how well they educate their students, including making sure that their students fully understand the true costs of their college loans. This whole student loan thing absolutely drives me nuts. If it wasn’t possible for 18-year-olds to sign themselves up for thousands of dollars in debt, in order to pay their college bills, Governor Rick and his minions wouldn’t have found it so politically easy to cut taxpayer support for public colleges and universities. Somehow, our community college and university systems must be saved, even if it requires increasing tuitions and taxpayer support.

Regarding student debt, we need programs so that people who graduate with high debt can nonetheless pursue careers as teachers, public employees, and other low income service professions. Also, the people who enjoy the benefits of higher education should pay the lion’s share of the cost of the system. The benefits of a higher education are huge and we shouldn’t try to transfer the cost onto people who don’t have degrees. I get the sneaky suspicion (my ex-wife taught me how to have one) that we are on the cusp of a revolution in higher education. I think that low cost alternatives are about to become available in truly epic-shifting ways. Clarendon College is strategically placed to take advantage of this future trend.

In many ways, Clarendon College is like our own community theater. It’s local. It’s in person. Its quality depends upon the people who live in our area. Some people love personal learning from professors in the same class room with them. Clarendon College is well structured to delivery this type of education. Additionally, the potential offered by online learning can greatly enhance CC’s reach throughout the land and the world.

The college status systems, like Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, etc., have become one of the abominations of the age. The idea that Harvard necessarily provides a better education than the next 200 schools is a joke. It may be true for some students, but it is not a certainty. Regarding college status systems, have you heard Mitt’s new stand on colleges? He’s suddenly decided to support low-interest federal loans to college students – a position that is opposed by the Republican Party. Why? I think they would prefer it if everyone wasn’t as smart as Governor Rick, and we all know how smart he isn’t. Jeez.

The bottom line is that no matter how high the tuition and loan burden, college is still an incredibly smart investment, maybe the smartest investment ever. The earnings for college grads are much higher than the earnings for non-grads, and their unemployment is much lower.

Let’s all give Sen. Seliger a call, pat him on the back, and encourage him to see that Clarendon College, along with the rest of our community colleges, colleges, and universities, is treated better than it’s been treated in the recent past. After all, our future depends upon it.