Added bells and whistles would make this internet-driven program equal to or even better than a traditional college education. For example, online instruction could be supplemented by other senior volunteer teachers meeting locally with individual students for one-on-one and small-group discussions, interactions, and mentoring --much like the work of teaching assistants but more skilled. These meetings could take place in donated facilities such as store fronts, banks, drug stores, malls, and other sites. Companies like Boscov's already offer free space for public events. Surely other businesses and organizations would do likewise to join the national campaign to ramp up American higher education
There's another big plus for this comprehensive free college-education program. It would harness the knowledge and abilities of seniors. We often pay lip service to the wisdom of age but we rarely tap the reservoir of senior talent. Indeed, politicians who propose cutbacks in programs for the elderly characterize seniors as takers not makers. In delivering free college education, senior volunteers will not only challenge their stereotyped image, they will show they can contribute productively to GDP by helping prepare America's twenty-first-century workforce.
The proposal I've sketched is a bare bones structure. Myriad details remain to be worked out. But the program is sound and doable.
Keep in mind that great nations have not fallen because they lost military battles. When the "barbarians" stormed into Rome in 410 CE, they met no resistance. Defense and social order had collapsed due to internal decay of Roman society. Many explanations for the fall of the Roman Empire offered by historians have frightening resonance with today's America: conflict among different factions leading to neglect of public needs, taxation that widened the gap of rich and poor, constant wars and military overspending, government corruption and political instability, harsh treatment of migrants, and the increased role of religion in politics.
Looking at the big picture, in the twenty-first century education may be as vital to national defense as military defense. If that is the case, then free college education should not be a question but an answer. The only real question is: do we have the courage and will to implement it? If we do, it's possible now.
I hope Bernie Sanders will lead the charge.
Note: You can learn more about this proposal for free college education in an earlier video in which Bernard Starr was interviewed by former WNBC TV News producer and writer Rita Satz.
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