justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Free College Education

Kindergarten through Grade 14 – a look back

There have been calls for free college education by several politicians over the past few years. As with most entitlement programs, there’s always the question of how such programs will be paid for.

While reading a May 16^th New York Times Magazine article by Gary Rivlin on universal free public education, I was reminded of a curious time when I was working in Pasadena, California in the mid-60s. At that time, the Pasadena City Schools included kindergarten through 14^th grade. Yes, the 14^th grade! It was a public school format quite unique at the time and certainly would be now.

Unless… that’s exactly what the politicians have in mind. Adding two additional years of public education at taxpayers’ expense, so that all citizens have a right to earn at least an associates degree.

As a lifelong educator, I tend to favor a program of this type, and I hope support builds to give it a try.

I’ve often wondered what happened to the Pasadena School program. What was the impact of that program? Did more students stay in school? Were students from that program able to seamlessly transition to completing the last two years of college?

If you were one of those students or knew one of those students, readers would love to hear your comments about that experience.