Editor's Box

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Editor’s Box

Report card doesn’t do Georgia Highlands College justice

Daniel Bell - Editor The Office of Educational Accountability (OEA) recently released its report card on the schools governed by the University System of Georgia or USG (see story on page 1).

Georgia Highlands College didn’t score so well.

First, let me explain that this grade-school-style report card is another brainchild of would-be education guru Roy Barnes. It was also the former governor’s idea to place the OEA not under the Education Department, but as its own separate office. This way it supposedly serves as a watchdog.

Dr. Randy Pierce, president of our wonderful little college, said in an email to the faculty and staff that he wasn’t going to make excuses for the somewhat below average rates.

Well, I will. You see, dear readers, I totally disagree with the whole idea.

Yes, it is a good idea to have a collection of data concerning all the colleges and universities in Georgia available to the public. But this report card does not do the institutions justice.

For example: the graduation rate at Georgia Highlands College is very low. But, let’s face facts folks. This is not a college that most people attend solely for the purpose of graduation.

Most students come to Floyd to get a good, affordable start. There are billboards in and around Rome advertising FC as the proverbial first base on the homerun that is education. And many of the people who attend here are doing so just for that purpose – to get to first base.

The next judgmental topic of discussion from the OEA report card is retention rates. Now, granted that ours weren’t the highest rates, I think we still had good numbers.

Again, Georgia Highlands College is just the first base for most students. But, it is more than that. A lot of people come to Floyd because it’s a local, affordable college and they are not sure what they want to do with their lives.

Sadly, some students realize they are not cut out to be college students, because college isn’t for everyone. And that’s okay, but those students who give it a try and then decide it’s not for them reflect badly on the college statistically.

Another point about the retention rate: Many students come to FC and then transfer out to Jacksonville State University in Alabama or Auburn University in Alabama. Both are institutions not under the governing power that is the University System of Georgia. That means that those students, even though they are still in college, do not get counted in the retention rates.

The only excuse I can muster in defense of our less than perfect Regents’ Test passing rate is the fact OEA counts the people who should have taken the exam and haven’t as having failed. So some of the students who “failed” the Regents’ exam just haven’t taken it yet.

The long and short of all this is that Georgia Highlands College is a great place, even if the numbers aren’t up to par with other schools. Students here are treated like people, not numbers, which seems to be what the Office of Educational Accountability would prefer. Numbers, numbers, numbers!

I think most educators would agree when I say that it is the quality of each student’s experience, not the quantity of students that matters.