Higher ed needs more cultural and financial support in Idaho
It’s a well-known fact that Idaho has a difficult time with higher education.
While college is certainly not for everyone, many people who otherwise should attend are scared off or barred out.
While watching open forum sessions of candidates vying to be the next provost and executive vice president, an excellent point came from candidate Candis Claiborn.
Shannon Kelly
Claiborn is a Vandal alumna and dean of the Washington State University College of Engineering and Architecture. She said the University of Idaho should make college education more accessible to Idahoans as well as sensible, including enhancing the system of UI branch campuses across Idaho.
Many Idahoans do not have the means, financial or otherwise, to go to college. Not to mention many Idahoans are skeptical of higher education in general.
I went to high school with too many students who simply said, “If my parents didn’t do it, then why should I?” or “Well my dad said it’s a waste of time.”
It’s as if my classmates couldn’t shake off their locked mindsets and see how a college education leads to a more successful future.
The solution, as Claiborn said, is to make higher education a plausible option for Idahoans. To do so, Idaho must step up its game on education and better fund its schools so students recognize the value of an education and become better equipped to go to college.
College education needs to be more affordable. In addition to the classic solution of keeping tuition prices down, Idaho’s public universities need to receive additional funding from the state.
Higher education also must do a better job of showing why a college degree is relevant, especially in Idaho, where there seems to be a strong stigma against education. Idaho is known for the practical nature of many of its residents who see no point in college. Yet, much of what is learned at schools like UI directly affects Idaho residents.
Advances in agricultural science have led to better crop yields and livestock health. Graduates of programs such as forestry are researching methods to fight root disease and looking into sustainable logging practices so the logging industry can survive. One can be a raw pragmatist and still find a future with college.
The liberal arts are a difficult pitch to the Idaho public, on the other hand. I’ve learned this firsthand as a history major with a minor in American Indian Studies — the history degree alone attracts jeers and snide comments about how the past does not matter.
The American Indian Studies part often garners racist responses about the original peoples of Idaho. If anything, this is just one example of how liberal arts education is a work in progress for Idaho.
The statistics for higher education in Idaho are anything but glamorous. The key to changing this involves transformations in a variety of factors, including education funding, state economics and cultural attitudes in the state. Provost candidate Claiborn is on to something.
Shannon Kelly can be reached at [email protected]