Month: February 2015

Leave a comment Posted on college ready, homework, vocational education

Free Community College Tuition is Not the Answer

What does $1,400 buy nowadays? One year of cell phone service with T-Mobile, one year of television with DirecTV, or one year’s tuition at a California community college—for 60% of students, that is. The other 40% pay no tuition.

Which is why the chorus of support for free community college tuition as proposed by President Obama in last month’s State of the Union address makes one pause.

It is one of those proposals that on the face of it sounds opposition-proof, a people-pleasing idea that would affect many: four out of every ten students attend a community college. The percentage is higher among Glendale students. But the President’s plan is for something that is not really needed.

Community college tuition is not the number one obstacle for most students. States with much higher tuition than California’s actually have higher completion rates.

Sure, some students have to work to pay for living expenses and are unable to attend college full-time, precluding them from finishing their college studies.

However, many attending community college are not stellar students.

Community colleges used to be the domain of those students whose income would not allow entrance to a state university campus.   After attending a junior college for two years, they would transfer to a 4-year institution to finish their degree.

Today, barely ten percent of community college students finish a bachelor’s degree within six years based on a study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. They struggled in high school and now need remedial coursework. Their past academic record of poor grades and easy classes did not meet the prerequisites of the state university system.

The solution isn’t to keep pushing these unprepared people into college. A kid who doesn’t fit the mold of a successful student—good grades, sits and listens attentively, does homework—doesn’t suddenly succeed by continuing assembly line-like in that traditional, passive environment.

Recall the old days when high schools provided viable vocational education alternatives for students skilled in other ways than book learning?

True, a person earns more money with a college degree than without one. However, not all jobs require them.

So having the federal government pay 75% and states the remaining 25% of the annual $6 billion needed to fund Obama’s project is not a smart investment.

The City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) goes beyond paying for tuition, providing textbooks, subway passes, and closely monitored individualized counseling.

No wonder that the ASAP has worked so far, with the disadvantaged students’ graduation rate nearly doubling, but costing 63% more than students not in the program, as reported by the nonprofit group MDRC.

Free tuition may help out a bit, but there is no funding in the President’s plan for the support services that have made ASAP successful.   If there were, the allocation would rise astronomically.

At the very least, any tuition-free proposal should ask something of its recipients. How about having students perform community service projects during their high school career in exchange for tuition? Tuition-free should not mean responsibility-free.

There is nothing wrong by having individuals make sacrifices in order to achieve goals. That is what makes attaining the goal so worthwhile. Giving people money doesn’t solve their problems. Just look at the lives of lotto winners.

Focus should be on rethinking the role of high school that still accelerates the notion that all must attend college. Of course, that is a much more complex problem to solve than simply providing people free tuition.

Leave a comment Posted on Capitol Records, Freddy Cole, Nat King Cole, Ralph Carmichael

The L-O-V-E of Nat King Cole

Since this column is being posted around Valentine’s Day I thought we would examine L-O-V-E. No, not the word “love” but the classic Nat King Cole record of 1964.

If it weren’t for Cole’s holiday perennial “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” people under 50 would have little awareness of him and his legacy in popular music.

Yet anyone who drives by the iconic Capitol Records building on Vine Street in Hollywood should know that its nickname is “The House That Nat Built” due to the amount of money Cole made for the record company since its inception in 1942.

Starting out as a pianist in his jazz combo the King Cole Trio, Cole soon transitioned from jazz musician to popular vocalist. He was the first African American to host a network television show in 1956. “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66,” “Mona Lisa,” and “Unforgettable” represent a sampling of his memorable songs.

“L-O-V-E” was written by Bert Kaempfert and Milt Gabler, becoming a hit in the summer of 1964. The rest of the album (named after the song’s title) was recorded in December 1964. Released in January 1965, Cole died the following month.

Ralph Carmichael was the arranger and conductor in Cole’s final recording years.

Still active at age 87, Carmichael has worked with some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century including Count Basie, Glen Campbell, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, and Johnny Mathis.

Carmichael has “fond memories” of Cole describing him as having “a natural gift of music.”

He vividly recalls those December sessions. Nat King Cole had an engagement at the now defunct Circle Star Theatre in San Carlos so Capitol brought up musicians from Los Angeles to record in San Francisco on December 1-3.

I asked Carmichael if he detected anything at all not well with Nat.

“He had quit smoking, but during breaks he would smoke a cigarette,” Carmichael recalled. Other than that, “Nat showed no hesitancy, no weakness, he was amazing.”

Carmichael remembers that Cole “came dressed in a suit and that was unusual. Later I realized that that was his way of celebrating whatever life he had left.”

If you listen to the whole “L-O-V-E” album, you would never detect from his singing that he had only 72 days left to live. His vocals are strong, his holding of notes impressive at the end of songs.

Knowing how little time Cole had left, there is a melancholy eeriness to some of the lyrics.

From “Thanks to You” he sings “each day that I’ll be living.”

From “More” he sings “I only live to love you more each day.”

From “Three Little Words” he sings “to hear those three little words that’s all I’d live for the rest of my days.”

From “How I’d Love to Love You” he sings “you’ll always be with me till life is through.”

Freddy Cole, Nat’s youngest brother, still performs live in concert at age 83 singing some of his sibling’s songs. He fondly recalls his older brother as “a hell of a nice guy.”

So, while exchanging Valentine’s Day gifts, listen to some Nat King Cole.

Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of his death at St John’s Hospital in Santa Monica.

If he had lived, he would have been 95 years old.