In the shadow off all of the horrible and gloomy GM-layoff headlines, it's so nice to actually read some good news.
As you may recall, an anonymous group of donors agreed to pay up to 100-percent of college tuition costs (depending on how long a student is enrolled) for ALL students in the Kalamazoo Public Schools. It's only been a week or so, but already look at the result:
Principal Carl Myles planned to give one family a tour of Kalamazoo Central High School on Monday, but then four others showed up.
``One family was from Seattle, one family was from Illinois,'' Myles said. ``The family from Seattle was especially impressed. They said they're coming.
``And after they left, more phone calls came in (asking for tours). .... Maybe we have to hire tour guides.''
Really - why can't we do something like this across Michigan? Why can't we make Michigan a top choice for families who care about whether their kid can go to college? Wouldn't that be a great way to begin dealing with the decline in manufacturing? Sure, it would cost money some money up front. But imagine the return! And wouldn't giving individual kids a college education give us a much better return than simply handing out bags of cash to companies for either locating or staying here? |
