More on Detocqueville's California - the Sierra/Siskiyou Mentality

Yesterday, I wrote about three articles in the Bee which reminded me of DeTocqueville's famous warning about the perils of democracies. There is a second issue, especially present in California policy making. Let me discuss an area I know well, the California Master Plan for Higher Education to give you an idea of this problem in very practical terms.

In 1960 California adopted a framework for higher education. At the time it was hailed as an important policy initiative. It differentiated how the three public sectors of higher education would work - both in terms of what they did and who they could admit as undergraduates. It also suggested some differences in what students would be charged - although no student would ever be charged "tuition."

Many Californians cling to parts of that plan with almost religious fervor. As noted yesterday, Larry Levine, a political consultant calls the increase in fees that students in community colleges pay ($26 per unit) "intolerable." But since the plan was originally adopted many things have changed. Our definition of who goes to college (or more importantly, who should go) has been widened. That is not intolerable - but our record of preparing students is. The economy has expanded several times - so the value of a $26 per unit fee is a lot less burdensome than it would have been in 1960 (the CPI has grown by more than seven fold since 1960). Technology has changed and so have work requirements - so what you got in a degree in 1960 should be considerably different than today.

But Californians are infected with an insularity that limits their vision outside our borders. You could call it the Sierra-Siskiyou mentality. Our geography has offered some benefits - on the north and east we are bordered by mountains, on the west by an ocean and on the south by a desert. Perhaps those barriers make those of us that got here feel special but whatever it is our vision of where to go next has been limited.

Other states have taken bold steps forward in higher education - in pricing, in who is admitted and in how college degrees are offered. But we seem to want to cling to the past. Californians are among the most diverse people in the country - but if we are ever to advance we are going to have to be cured of the Sierra-Sikiyou mentality - we need to look at places where innovation has taken place and see what we can apply to our state. If it is true for higher education, it is also true for all the other potholes of public policy we can't seem to think about.