I've always wondered why Arnold Schwarzenegger became a Yellowjacket. That's right, five years before the Austrian strongman became the Terminator, he was a University of Wisconsin-Superior grad.
Maybe he heard about burgers at the Anchor Bar or steaks at the Hammond and couldn't resist. As a cynic, I always figured Arnold (or someone doing his bidding since he was already something of a movie star) checked out many colleges, looking for the easiest and fastest degree possible.
It's no secret that the UW system was having hard times in the 1970s, with its Superior campus rumored to be atop a list of possible closures. In any case, anxious colleges and universities of that period gave non-traditional students credit for their "life experiences."
Arnold was present for graduation in 1979, but apparently spent relatively little time on campus otherwise. Did he take online UWS classes? No, they weren't offered then. I guess that leaves courses by mail. A lot of thick envelopes must have gone back and forth from Hollywood to Superior -- besides notes on all his life experiences, of course.
This is all pertinent now because the University of Wisconsin is moving system-wide to a program that offers students credit for their life experiences -- or "college lite," as I call it.
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Notoriously tight-fisted Gov. Scott Walker agreed recently to add $21 million to the university's budget. Some will go for performance measures and student-retention efforts. The rest is for a "flexible-degree initiative" that gives credit for real-world experiences and offers self-paced online courses.
UW regents adopted this program on Aug. 23. Sadly, none of the stories indicate that any regent questioned whether this could water down the quality of a UW education. I hope some did.
People as old as I have had a lot of life experiences whether we wanted them or not -- and regardless of whether we paid attention as they came to us. Hey, I have life experiences up the wazoo. Where's my doctorate?
I'm trying not to be skeptical about this plan, and perhaps UW will somehow improve the college experience at lower cost to students, as they suggest they will. That's a worthy goal.
UW says "this new initiative will place Wisconsin at the forefront of a new frontier in higher education." Instead of saluting such verbiage, Wisconsin taxpayers should watch to ensure quality education really happens.
UW says nontraditional-age students will get credits only after they "prove their mastery of the material." Will that mastery be as good as classroom lectures, reading and demonstrations?
One clue to the change comes from an official description: "At a time when the pool of younger college-bound students is predicted to shrink, Wisconsin must do more to enroll older students." Other insight comes when UW admits for-profit schools and "free open courseware" are also poaching students. (Look online if you don't know what free open courseware is.)
Interesting also is the school's comment that adult learners can graduate "without having to set foot on campus." That makes you wonder about spending for expensive new buildings on many campuses, which I've written about in recent columns.
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Having exhausted the willingness of students, parents and even state legislators to provide more money -- and with student-loan debt at unacceptable levels -- colleges must do something.
Higher education outside the Catholic Church is more than 900 years old, and Harvard University got American higher ed under way 140 years before the Declaration of Independence. After that there's been a core belief in what higher education should be. A school gathered the most-learned teachers in the fields that administrators thought people should know. Standards were usually high, demands on students considerable.
Britain's Oxford University and America's Harvard shouldn't be run the way they were centuries ago. Early university educations were mostly for the elite, and today we must educate many more people.
But are we really ready to turn away from classes taught by experts in their fields holding doctorate degrees and start considering a proper higher education something you pick up on the job or in your spare time as you wind your way through life?
I hope not, but keep watching -- and see if this idea spreads.
Budgeteer opinion columnist Virgil Swing has been writing about Duluth for many years. Contact him at vswing2@chartermi.net .
