March 19^th

George Will today is promoting the Presidential qualifications of Ohio’s Governor Kasich. Among Kasich’s many accomplishments Will lists that he has cut taxes by three billion dollars and that “death is no longer taxable.” (But George, death has never been taxable…anywhere. It’s the proceeds you gain from someone else’s death, if they are large enough, that are taxable. Please George; you know better than to mislead people like that!) Then about the three billion in reduced taxes: that’s splendid from a conservative perspective; now tell us which programs were sacrificed to reduce taxes by that much. Since Ohio doesn’t have to worry about defense spending these reductions are probably to social programs and so would be an added recommendation for Kasich in the view of most conservatives.

Will claims that Kasich reimburses state colleges and universities on a per-pupil basis and they “do not get a dime” for a student who doesn’t graduate. I can assure Kasich that his incentives will guarantee an increase in the number of students admitted to the state’s schools and will certainly increase the graduation rate. Of course Kasich has said nothing about maintaining admission standards or maintaining graduation standards; he just wants more students admitted and more students graduated. No problem Governor; your schools can do that!

At the moment Ohio State University’s first year students are an academically talented group; Their ACT scores for the middle 50 percent are at the 87 centile to 97 centile nationally. This means that only 25 percent of Ohio State entering students score below the 87 centile on a national test; that’s impressive! Unfortunately, with the governor’s incentive program it probably won’t last.

Will tells us that Kasich does not “do modulation.” I assume that means Kasich is not interested in discussion and is perhaps a trifle rigid. Will does not elaborate on what he means by “modulation.” He does tell us that “sometimes he (Kasich) suggests that opposition to him annoys God.”  Isn’t that just the sort of guy we need in the White House?

As a case in point about educational incentives, here is a case study: I was an active college professor for more than thirty years. After I retired I taught one introductory class in my field at a nearby community college. (No, it was not NMC.) This community college wanted students to get passing grades because their state subsidy was tied to enrollment and so they discouraged faculty from giving any failing grades at all. Justifying the failing grades I gave was easy: a quarter of my students never showed up for class and another quarter never passed a test. This was all the more remarkable because I was cautioned against including the “science” based chapters of the text…and the high school level text had been chosen before I arrived. I never taught there again, much to everyone’s relief…including mine! That was my experience in a college whose state funding was on a per pupil basis.