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What’s on the minds
of Manchester College students?
Now, Gov. Mitch Daniels knows!
 All-day
kindergarten, privatizing services, the death penalty, school spending,
fitness and academic achievement, Hoosier Hope scholarships … Manchester
College students peppered Gov. Mitch Daniels with questions on Tuesday,
Jan. 23. They had him all to themselves as they overflowed Flory
Auditorium for a casual, good-natured, yet serious Q & A with the leader
of Indiana government.
The visit with students – and 15 minutes with President Jo Young Switzer
– were totally focused on students. Daniels arrived in his signature RV
One, donned an MC cap and perched atop the lab table in the
lecture hall.
Student teacher Rachelle Steggerda of Valparaiso introduced a governor
obviously pleased by her focus on his state education agenda.
When asked by sophomore Ben Helm of Elwood how Indiana can get talented
young scientists to go into teaching, the governor replied: “We have an
extraordinary number of schools teaching future teachers,” but too much
time is spent on teaching techniques and not enough is spent studying the
actual subjects, such as science or math, he said. Indiana needs to make
it easier for talented scientists, for example, to teach in the high
school classroom, he told the crowd.
The governor said he wants education to get the priority benefit from
his administration’s success in achieving a balanced budget within only
one year. “If we are very careful, we can fund this,” he said, adding
that school corporations should worry less about consolidating schools
and more about consolidating administration. “I’m in favor of smaller
schools,” he said several times. Several questions were about full-day
kindergarten. The state Legislature is considering phasing in full-day
kindergarten, in schools with the state’s neediest students.
Students also questioned Daniels about his proposed Hoosier Hope
Scholarships. “We want to address the problem of the brain drain in
Indiana,” he said. “I have met hundreds of young people with the same
story: They tell me, “I don’t see the jobs (in Indiana) that match my
aspirations.” (President Switzer earlier told the governor that 86
percent of Manchester grads do indeed pursue their careers in Indiana.)
The Hoosier Hope Scholarships would provide $5,000 annually or $20,000
total for qualified “high-potential” college students who agree to work
in their fields in Indiana for at least three years after graduation,
Daniels said.
During a brief meeting in her office, President Switzer thanked the
governor for his work to strengthen education in Indiana. Daniels
returned the praise: “Everybody knows about the value of a Manchester
College education.”
 The
governor was extremely responsive to Switzer’s reminder that wired
independent colleges like Manchester do not have access to the I-Light 2
digital fiber optic network that currently serves public institutions in
downstate Indiana, such as Indiana and Purdue universities and Ball
State University.
“We want all colleges and universities in the state hooked up,” Daniels
replied. “I am very sympathetic to this. Our view of I-Light 2 is that
it is primarily about educational institutions like Manchester.”
Enthused about the “great questions” he faced at Manchester, Daniels
said he would love to return to campus “to continue the discussion.” |
