At an appearance on the ISU campus Aug. 28, Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson talked big, emphasizing plans by Governor Tom Vilsack to improve education and make it so every capable Iowan can go to college.

One point she emphasizes is that in our own modern society, a high school diploma is not just good enough.

To respond to this, Pederson suggests the answer is a typical politician’s answer – we need better and more access to college education.

Thankfully, she’s not being tested, because if she were, Pederson would have failed. The actual answer to this problem is better high schools.

Just think of this in analogous terms.

Say Major League Baseball was still in danger of a strike. Would they say that the problem was in the minor leagues and that by improving them, they could avoid such problems?

The simple fact is that if there’s a problem in education on one level, it needs to be dealt with on that level. Iowans should not have to pay to send more people to college just because their high schools were too lousy to get the important course work done.

Iowans can’t all afford to go to college, and the size of the institutions in Iowa wouldn’t allow all of them to go anyway. And, contrary to what politicians will tell you, not every job – and not even every good – requires a college education. Our economy may have shifted to a more technical basis, but that only affects so many people. It doesn’t change the situation for everyone.

As admirable as the mere idea of higher education for everyone may be, it’s really impossible and irresponsible. Impossible because if everyone has access to it, it’s not that “high” of an education after all. It’s irresponsible because it merely turns college into what high school has become – a place people go because dropping out means you have to take that burger job full-time.

It’s apparent that this is already happening. College is swiftly becoming less a place of high academic achievement than a place of high parental income and low skin pigmentation.

If you’re white, rich or middle-class, and between the ages of 18 and 22, I’ll lay good odds that you’re attending college, whether you got a 36 on your ACT or the state-mandated minimum of 19.

This is the danger of state institutions. We are public, we should be, and in being public, there’s a lot of things that need to be done for the state of Iowa. However, there is such a thing as going too far. By refusing to let people slip through the cracks at the lower end, the education just isn’t there at the higher end.

It turns college into high school, where it seems that the only limiting factor on your education is the other people in your class.

Des Moines’ parents have been bemoaning this situation in the Des Moines Register nearly every day all summer long. Among the popular arguments: kids can’t succeed when people are forced to come to a school they don’t care about (truth), kids can’t succeed without lots of parental involvement (lie), and kids can’t succeed without great teachers (lie). They all want to tell everyone what the answers are, but they’re at least closer to getting it right. They recognize the problem with high schools is at the high school level. And they’re right. High school probably taught me one thing: Extra-curricular activities will get you out of stupid pointless classes with teachers who are underpaid and undereducated.

Pederson’s plan is more dangerous. First, it requires either a lot more money to be devoted to education or a lot of money to be shifted from the high school level to the collegiate level. Second, it will require more of the Regents institutions’ funding to be devoted to financial aid.

By doing these things, we will merely be contributing to a vicious cycle we can already see. If we make college a thing for everybody, then those people who really want jobs have to go to graduate school in the hopes of getting a job someday. With our recent economic downturn, this effect is already being seen. People aren’t finding jobs, so they’re heading off to grad school in record numbers. By saying that everyone capable needs to go to college, we’re merely making it an unnecessary and unwanted sequel to high school.

Making Iowa State truly a place for everyone undermines education in Iowa. Pederson’s bright shining hope for the future is to turn us into a trade school.

Tim Kearns is a senior in political science from Bellevue, Neb.