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Richard Riley
(Rex Barber / Johnson City Press)

Shorten college to 3 years?

By Rex Barber
Press Staff Writer
rbarber@johnsoncitypress.com

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A former U.S. secretary of education thinks limiting college to three years instead of four could be beneficial.

Richard Riley, who was the education secretary under President Bill Clinton, visited East Tennessee State University Monday to speak to students, staff, faculty and local leaders. Part of his message was about challenges to higher education, including the ever increasing costs.

“And that’s not just one university, it’s all of them,” Riley said of college tuition costs. “And somehow we’ve got to deal with that issue.”

One idea, suggested by Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, is limiting college to three years instead of the traditional four. Riley thinks that idea should be considered more closely.

“Some young people, that would not be a good experience,” Riley said Monday. “Some people, it would be very clearly a good experience. They could learn just as much in three years’ design as they do in four years and get on out and be producing in their profession or job or advanced education.”

One way to reduce the years in college would be to have high school credits count toward college. A plan like this would essentially cut the cost of college by 25 percent, Riley said.

Riley visited ETSU at the request of longtime friend Mark Musick, chairholder of the James H. Quillen Chair of Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Before he was education secretary, Riley was the governor of South Carolina (1979-87).

“When I was secretary of education during the Clinton years, eight years, the main thrust of what we were trying to do was to put the standards movement into all 50 states,” he said. “And I’m very pleased we did that. And then No Child Left Behind was really built on the standards movement. If you hadn’t had standards, you wouldn’t have anything to measure.

Riley said he expects the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to be reauthorized next year, though he would like to see some significant changes.

“I support the general idea that no child be left behind but instead of a top-down process, I think you ought to have a top-down and bottom-up process,” Riley said. “Instead of just compliance and regulations, I think we ought to have incentives and all to encourage people to get more creative and to do things in education for the 21st century, which means innovation and working in teams, working together. All of those things that really management and industry desire and people want for higher education.”

Riley talks often now about 21st century skills in technology, communication and working together. All those elements are necessary, Riley said, for success in school and career. This is what he told students in the ETSU College of Education.

“There’s a place for everyone to provide leadership and that’s primarily what I had talked to them about....”

He said dealing with Washington, D.C., politics is a lot more partisan than he was used to as governor, and he had to get used to that life and how to work effectively in that environment.

“But it amazes you to think that you’re sitting there pondering about something positive to do for school children throughout America,” Riley said. “That’s an overwhelming thought, this idea of impacting in a good way every child in America.”