To the left you'll see one of Georgia's most infamous Governors, namely Eugene Talmadge. He's barely mentioned in the editorial to follow yet my having taught Georgia History for so many years I can hardly avoid not noting him. This Time piece from way back in 1946 on the death of the "Wild Man from Sugar Creek" is a good read. Note the "God Bless America" in his hands. His battle with FDR over the New Deal was perhaps a vision of things to come in the South.Today's Anniston Star editorial titled The two-year college showdown: Let's examine Georgia model possibly saves me from a post I'd promised in Are we meeting the needs of citizens or capital? where I questioned why ACHE was so determined to align our educational efforts with the needs of industry. I wrote:
... I'm also thinking ACHE ought to be replaced with something like a Board of Regents like Georgia uses. Decision and policy making is all the more difficult given Alabama's organizational structures. We also ought to give PK-12 to the Alabama Board of Education and take the JuCos away but that's another post for another day.And what did The Star suggest?
In Georgia, the two-year colleges are treated like colleges — not as extensions of K-12. And in Georgia, instances of political interference in the activities of the Board of Regents are rare. And they usually fail.There's plenty more they could have offered up but the point is well taken. In this battle between AEA and Chancellor Bradley Byrne, who let's recall was a rather big time player in the Alabama GOP, is simply smothered with politics. It's pretty much a battle of the Big Mules. Either way this all shakes out I fear the real losers will remain Alabama's young people and the state as a whole. John Gunn
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