The Scoop: Playing the lottery, funding education
The lottery scholarship bill is on its way to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature and the piece of legislation couldn’t be much better if you ask me.
If you like the thought of students going to college, as I do, this bill is for you. If you like the idea of more students earning a college degree, as I do, this bill is for you. If you like the idea of gambling paying for our children’s education, as I do, this bill is for you.
I like all of these things and I like the philosophy of state lawmakers who made attaining a college scholarship as easy as possible for Tennesseans. Their lottery bill lowers the academic requirements for a scholarship, which naturally means more students will receive one. I think we would all agree that more students receiving scholarships translates into more students attending college, or technical school, or going after some form of post-secondary education. Once again, this is a good thing.
The importance of a job skill, or a college degree, can’t be underestimated in today’s workforce. Jobs are difficult to find. Decent-paying jobs are even harder. And most folks aren’t going to support a family based on grades they made taking algebra II.
What our young adults need is an advanced education. What they need are job skills that are valuable to today’s employers. You get that from college.
That’s why I’m all in favor of lowering the requirements for a college scholarship. If a student can maintain a 3.0 GPA in high school, I have no problem giving him or her a scholarship. If a student can score a 19 on the ACT, that’s enough for a scholarship.
An argument has been made that college scholarships should only be handed out to the best of the best students. The people in this elite group, the way I’m understanding it, only wear calculator wristwatches and spend most of their time playing chess.
Sure those folks deserve scholarships, but what about the the so-called “regular” people who shoot basketball and have trouble figuring out math problems that involve letters like “x.”
What if your average student wants to move on to college, but can’t afford it? Or what if your average student could afford college courses, but the price of tuition would really put a strain on the household budget? Thus college is shuffled behind “Can I take your order?” in the list of priorities.
Those are things I don’t want to happen. In fact, I don’t see a problem with giving everybody a college scholarship.
An even better idea would be for Tennessee to fully subsidize its state universities. Give every student who wants to attend a state school a free ride.
If it sounds crazy, it’s only because we’re not used to the idea. Our children can get a public education — free of charge — all the way through high school. Then once we graduate high school, it’s whammy time. Students are forced to pay thousands each year to take classes which used to be free.
When you think about that logic, it makes our current system seem a bit silly. At what point did someone pull 12th grade out of a hat as the last level of education which was fully paid for by the government? If Tennessee really wants to give its young men and women an edge in today’s world, all public education, including college, would be free.
That’s what I like so much about the lottery scholarship bill that’s on the governor’s desk. With just the slightest amount of effort, most students can reach the goals to qualify for a scholarship. That means they will be receiving at least $3,000 a year if they choose to attend a four-year institution. And they will be eligible for another $1,000 a year if they’re really smart, or come from a home where the annual income is below $36,000.
These lottery-funded scholarships are nothing less than a great stride for Tennessee. And in today’s competitive workforce, we need every bit of an edge we can muster.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or at [email protected].)