On Friday, the Oklahoma legislature voted overwhelmingly to repeal the Common Core. The bill also requires that they be approved by the legislature, which will “bring representative government into the process”—a surefire recipe for a hot mess. Regardless of your views on the Common Core, or any standards, do you really want what the next generation learns to be determined by who wins the next election? The future of high-quality educational standards in the Sooner State is now in the hands of Governor Mary Fallin, who has until the end of next week to decide whether to sign the bill or let it die via a pocket veto. We hope she makes the right decision.
Yesterday, the New York Times’s David Leonhardt rounded up evidence finding that college is “clearly” worth the cost, highlighting two new studies in particular: one from the Economic Policy Institute and another by MIT economist David Autor (published in Science magazine). EPI found that the pay gap between college graduates and everyone else reached a record high last year, and Autor found that the true cost of a college degree is negative $500,000 over the average lifetime. However, Autor notes that the calculation doesn’t control for preexisting differences between college grads and non-grads—and that’s the rub. If you’re well prepared for college, it’s worth it—but we can’t ignore the fact that many are not.
