Dear Commons Community,

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) set off a firestorm by declaring that an “educational elite” has taken over colleges,  and lashed out over what he says are worthless courses that offer “no chances of getting people jobs.”

In a national radio interview Tuesday with Bill Bennett, U.S. Education Secretary during the Reagan administration, McCrory said there’s a major disconnect between what skills are taught at the state’s public universities and what businesses want out of college graduates.

“So I’m going to adjust my education curriculum to what business and commerce needs to get our kids jobs as opposed to moving back in with their parents after they graduate with debt,” McCrory said, adding, “What are we teaching these courses for if they’re not going to help get a job?”

McCrory said he doesn’t believe state tax dollars should be used to help students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill study for a bachelor’s degree in gender studies or to take classes on the Swahili language.

“If you want to take gender studies that’s fine. Go to a private school, and take it,” McCrory said. “But I don’t want to subsidize that if that’s not going to get someone a job.”

Bennett added his own take, which seemed to echo former presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s controversial statements about higher education.

“We’ve really created this elitist cult of hierarchy where people who know how to do things, do things with their hands are looked down upon,” Bennett said

The first term governor said he’d propose legislation to change the higher education funding formula in the state “not based on how many butts in seats but how many of those butts can get jobs.”

As Louisiana Governor Bobbly Jindal said recently:   Republicans have to stop being the “stupid party”.

Tony