Free Community College? How about we fix the high schools Mr. Obama?

The New York Times explained this morning what is behind the free Community College plan of President Obama. In this article they said

The United States built the world’s most successful economy by building its most successful education system. At the heart of that system was the universal high school movement of the early 20th century, which turned the United States into the world’s most educated country. These educated high school graduates — white-collar and blue-collar alike — powered the prosperity of the 20th century. 

That may well be true. The high schools of the early 20th century taught employable skills (in addition to the absurd 1892 academic curriculum still in place.) Eventually all practical high school programs were eliminated from high school because everyone “must go to college.”

Mr. Obama, instead of restoring all the practical things that were taught in high school, wants to make everyone go to college in order to learn employable skills.

The plan would allow anyone admitted to a community college to attend without paying tuition, so long as they enroll in a program meeting certain basic requirements and they remain on track to graduate in three years. Its broad goals are clear: to extend the amount of mass education available, for free, beyond high school — from K-through-12, to K-through-college. “The president thinks this is a moment like when we decided to make high school universal,” said Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Here is a wild suggestion, Mr Obama. Fix high school. Teach practical subjects there. Eliminate the 1892 curriculum. Here are some suggestions for what could be taught in high school today:  

Some Proposed Curricula

1. Criminal Justice
2. Sports Management
3. The Music Business
4. Music Technology
5. Law
6. The Legal Office
7. Military Readiness
8. The Fashion Industry
9. Electrical Engineering
10. Civil Engineering
11. Robotics
12. Computer Engineering
13. Computer Networking
14. Homeland Security
15. Medicine
16. Nursing
17. Medical Technology
18. Construction
19. Television Production
20. Real Estate Management
21. Landscape Architecture
22. Computer Programming
23. The Banking Industry
24. The Investment World
25. Automobile Design
26. Aircraft Design
27. Architecture
28. Biotechnology Lab 
29. Film Making
30. Travel Planning
31. Financial Management
32. Accounting
33. Parenting and child care
34. Animal care
35. Zoo Keeper
36. Urban Transit
37. Hotel management
38. Healthcare industry
39. Food industry
40. Graphic Arts

Could we do this? Easily. Online education allows teaching anything anywhere. Every kid could choose what they were interested in and then change his or her mind and do something else if they got interested in something else. And there are many more possibilities. Spend our money more wisely Mr. Obama. Build that.

Community college wouldn’t be necessary if the high schools weren't broken.