Higher Education For All

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Jim Hightower's newest book, Let's Stop Beating Around The Bush, is scheduled for release this month. Utne.com is running a series of excerpts from the title.

Given what you've seen in recent times, I know you're not going to believe this, but here it is: Once upon a time, Congress occasionally did the right thing, in the right way.

Ludicrous! you shout. Tell me that pigs fly, that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow, that Britney Spears is a serious musical talent -- but tell me no fables about that gang of thieves under the Capitol dome.

It's true. As evidence, I point you to the Congress of 1944, which passed what became known as the GI Bill. It opened up higher education, previously the exclusive enclave of elites, to masses of Americans. Admittedly, Congress's motive was not altruism -- but panic. Some 14 million soldiers were about to return from World War II and there simply were no jobs for them. It could be quite explosive to have millions of mostly young and largely unskilled men milling around, most of whom had ambition and many of whom were coming home with lots of experience in how to use guns.

Better to channel this mass of energy, aspiration, and testosterone into...what? The answer was college, trade schools, and training programs. The GI Bill allowed veterans who could meet the academic qualifications to go to the school of their choice for up to four years -- FREE! They received grants of up to $500, which in that day would cover all tuition, books, fees, etc. Plus, they got living stipends of up to $50 a month.

It was a major public investment in ordinary people -- not a trickle-down approach, but percolate-up -- and it worked.

More than seven million vets were trained during the 12-year life of the GI Bill:

• 2.2 million went to college
• 3.5 million went to trade and technical schools
• 1.4 million got on-the-job training
• 700,000 got farm training

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