Muscle gets ready for export gas as big oil prepares for a post. Plus global remittances plan counting the cost on aljazeera. Hi im Steve Clements and i have a question is coping 114 of revolution in College Education lets get to the bottom line. The Novel Coronavirus has struck americas Education System like lightning bolts a tsunami and a massive earthquake combined more and more schools and universities have decided to avoid face to face teaching for the next school year and replace it with Online Education the shift that started last semester has been huge and it has exposed a lot of weaknesses across the system just this week Harvard University announced well have know in person classes the entire next year with no in person classes the federal government is told International Students you cant stay in america huge shift so we have to wonder what kind of educational model will emerge from this pandemic will people stick to a 4 year College Education or will that change as well without a classroom or campus what will the College Experience be our study abroad programs dead in the water and will students and parents be willing to pay thousands of dollars in tuition for an Online Education joining us today is professor eduardo prodrome who knows a thing or 2 about running an institution of Higher Education dr drone as president americas of Miami Dade College one of the countrys biggest colleges that he led for more than 20 years and hes recognized as one of the most innovative leaders and education in the country he was presented americas highest civilian award the president ial medal of freedom by president barack obama for his contributions eduardo thank you so much for joining us let me just start out you know with a bottom line question which is what is koch at one team doing to americas centers of learning today particularly in Higher Education. Well its a real Significant Impact steve. Its its everyones challenge for for office because. d we have 2 issues one the welfare of our stillest to be our 1st priority and its very difficult to make decisions when we dont have a stable situation ladies. You know weve been going back and forth with 19 in florida for example where live we being right now in miami beginning this week we have grossed again all the restaurants all the teams and Everything Else after they were open and its hard to predict. What the situation is going to be august is around the corner its a round the corner but with that level of a. Lot of predictability is very difficult to do any planning im of course our main concern is me sure that our students are safe as well as our 5 stuff and we have our day who are in their sixtys and seventys who in fact are very concerned about going back 3 simply to the complex and you have students who for many reasons we serve a very very high level of minority population low income students students who are 1st generation and one of the things that we read this quote when we 1st had to deal with it under me is the fact how many of them do not have Internet Connection at home how many of them do not have home they have to come to our libraries and our various labs to be able to use their computers or all together a real challenge you know you mentioned. 2 issues where they should be paying the same amount or not all these issues we struggle with every day now and its true for all these situations and its something that. Its not going to be ever sold we have every elk and to be stunned that mick is coping 19 unwittingly helping universities be better than they were by by innovating in this time because i know you were an innovator before covert hit and a lot of other players were not so is this helping in a way better is yes i think this has really caused a situation that allows us to we have to by nature become more more innovative we have to really be concerned about so many other issues that before were not really of concern especially about vulnerable populations that you know up to now many of our institutions d have taken for granted we have a situation where the pandemic is going to force ost more and more to look at that knowledge. More of an enabler of education but also i worry to be totally honest with you about the fact that you know college is probably the most important socialization factor in the life of young adults its a process of self discovery and not having a person to person participation in the learning process i think is impacting having that said we are in fact i worry about the level of segregation that will increase a result of the students not being in touch with each other person to person so there are different ways of looking at the so many theories have already being advanced but nobody really knows but the fact of the matter is that we should all be worried because there are learning more than ever in our 21st Century Global economy is more important than ever and how we do that and how we use the latest pedagogy d successor to be able to provide a student who has a poor they need is going to be as we had challenge you hear me said before in conversation with you that higher ed was the last of all industries to come into the 21st century i think this is going to a felony that because of this pandemic is changing everything that we know and you just said something that really hit me about the need for students to socialize to be exposed you have so many different minority communities together if we dont fix us if we remain online is what youre saying that were going to end up with far more problems from that. Well definitely because we will be more segregated there will be no contact amongst us im very proud of in my years at Miami Dade College one of the things that i saw is how the students you know miami they call it is probably the most diverse. Learning in america and i was very proud to see how different types of students immigrants nonimmigrants blacks hispanics asians would come together and really grow and Work Together for the benefit awful of themselves and the community that they live in and when youre learning when you have only one learning that is the managed greatly and you know they should do all the problems that that were facing today you see most of our students how to work in order to go to school they do not have the fortune to be full time students most of the time because they dont have families who can afford a should so this is complicated now by the 5 that so many of them are on employed and it is a real challenging in more ways than one. Well let me wrestle with you about one thing and again im not against Higher Education but but it does seem to me that the Harvard Universitys the ivy league with a winner takes all view of education in america where getting into those schools and universities pays off big for that student a lot that people dont get in and ive just been wondering whether there may be some Silver Lining in Online Education that it creates the potential for democratizing access to education and knocking through some of the ivory tower syndrome which is which is hit education because its very very expensive to go to some of these universities and the people that come out to extremely well but we know that there are a lot of people that are systematically excluded so i guess the thing im reaching for is that there may be something that were not looking at enough and in the Education World which is democratizing access. Well you are absolutely right will be one of the effects of Online Education especially yes technology continues to improve but you need to remember that in this country we have systems of education especially Community Colleges that you know are americas democracys colleges because these are open open admission institutions who gives everyone a chance and. Do that they do issue is very very low compared to almost any by any measure with any other education and this is very important because for 1st Generation College students do not have a tradition of families who have gone to college who are mostly come from low income communities mostly minorities top of that they go to work and also to study you need to have all kinds of support systems and all kinds of flexibility in order for them to take advantage of their education but what we see is once you provide that education its incredible wonderful to see the essence of how often to them you know ive always said that is universal are opportunities not and so the key is opportunity providing support to the students and the access because so many situations make the mistake of yours having an open door but you dont want that open door to become a revolving door you need to make sure that all the supports of the students need are there to make them successful and for Public Institutions who have been suffering from their funding for the last few years thats becoming increasingly increasingly more difficult so yes in higher read many how do we make sure that that becomes the most important tool for the future of this country who we keep. Nation as the most powerful most successful nation in the world is going to depend on where we are. A distance and education means not just that you go to college for 4 years and then you put the books away it has become a Lifelong Learning process for most people you know how quickly changes taking place so once a change is the only constant and that is very true and we see that in education more and more often so you know many doctors and lawyers and so many other professions accountants have to cost something going back to start school to workshops and seminars some things because every day there are new discoveries new forms of that and so we the times when we had books collect dust is something of that we need to constantly be renewing ourselves but ive already has become a major issue in higher ed because in fact you know even though you have some of the most intelligent i call them geniuses novel price winners who are teaching in the classrooms that do not miss a surly mean that they can communicate that doesnt necessarily mean that they have the ability to read you kate and ill give you a good example when i went to teach at miami they college with a ph d. Nomics i thought i was very was preparing fact i was but i had no knowledge of teaching techniques or pedagogy or anything like that they gave me the book and said this is what you need to teach and frankly my students struggled with me for the 1st year because they know the best way to really reach them and i had to take special youre given youre telling me that it on that old web site called rate your professor dot com you got bad grades. Well that was so long ago that im sure that the sixtys so i was so happy that when he let me ask you question it right i dont mean to interrupt but i want to you know you were president of miami dade for a long long time and now youre president emeritus which means you hopefully get the applause and not the headaches for running the whole system but but im interested in what miami dade as a educational system is doing right now as august comes because the way youve said theres a lot of big hard choices ahead but what kinds of things do you think would be smart innovations in this time of coronavirus. Well. Of course the whole idea that college is going to be open its going to be in person teaching its being mandated by development both for the case with 2 elements where the state universities so its not like any school have the choice to say no were going to all. So. But i mean they college well know that and i think youre stating your governor no matter that right now florida is the worst place in the United States for corona virus infections so youre saying your governor has i didnt know this has ordered you to open no matter what. Well yesterday and today i received notification that the secretary the commissioner of education in florida cuts and i were there and that all the schools will need to open in august so. Factual i saw that so anyway miami they call it chasing institutional for years to be known for being innovative and most importantly for really developing a great support system for students and that will not changing an event and seeing that will be increased because we realize that now more than ever with so many students who are out of work they want to take advantage of that opportunity to really try to work you know start it with time to be able to feed each programs faster and the institution will do Everything Possible to to support them i am very proud of that because d i think does the kind of legacy that a situation has created that has made it so well done for taking people that nobody else was given them a chance to be able to support them and become productive citizens and the best example of that when i was ready to go to college just coming from from and completing one year of high school i applied to the rest will see the nation i was very naive all of them rejected me miami a college will see only 100 stop and was the only one who gave me a chance if you had not been because of that institution i dont know what i would be doing today and that is something that this country needs to operate more Community College yes i think. In many ways a solution to many of the challenges we face today well i agree with you and its been something ive been been thinking about a long time whether americas prevention wing system needs to be reformed whether you know it and it does come back to that question of whether you know the. Money that is paid for if you know 4 year liberal arts College Education is paying back when we look at the level of Student Loans in the country doing need to have something thats more nimble for students so that they get better return for their investment than theyre getting because i have to say that if you look beyond miami dade you look at many of the Higher Education institutions and the cost of education skyrocketing while wages and what the resources people have is not skyrocketing the how do we fix that gap. Well less does a real issue but. Im all for choice i think we need to give those institutional opportunity to do what they think they can do best but the important thing is to have choices for the population that youre talking about that can nora for these schools and really need more than are appropriate the students are going to those institutions need an education in order to be able to enjoy. A joy busy that the fruits of progress of this great nation and thats why i have being an advocate of free college. For the 1st 2 years i seem to have an imperative and that we should not be arguing about it if you think about it it was about a 100 years ago when there was a big debate in america as to whether high school should be free and after a long discourse you had a lot of arguments i was excited that high school should be a universal right of every american i think that act alone was responsible for the proponents of. America in the 20th century because we had the most educated population in the world and i think we have gone now to the point where college should be the same thing should be a universal right for every american when you know all that 2 thirds of all the jobs that are being created in the country today require some sort of Postsecondary Education that should be enough to to come up to the conclusion that we should make college free for all americans and occasion is the most important thing in this century of globalization nations cities compete on the basis of talent wherever they are and if we dont produce enough talent in america were going to be so far in the consequences right now theyre close to or more than 5000000. 00 jobs in the United States that are begging for a money fight people as you well know and you are only going to sold out when you make more accessible more for the whole 2 americans who really need it to be able to compete in this sick romney. I want to let me ask you and you just revealed to our audience that you were an immigrant from cuba we have a lot of International Students that are studying in the United States we have u. S. Students studying and study abroad programs abroad all of our come crashing down but then on top of that this week the federal government said that if International Students are in the United States and not in classes physically in brick and mortar classes even though d Harvard University has gone online those students visas will not will be will be canceled they waived their right to stay in United States youre such an internationalist are you screaming right now about some of what youre hearing from the federal government because it is an International Education and exposing American Students abroad and International Students are being exposed to the United States a huge strengths steve im very very concerned about that because the fact of the matter is. Many of the schools have chosen to go online there are no one person to person what what do you expect the students to do is a school set up to them that were approved by our government for the student to come they are here they have made the expense that little its often the school is the one else an inverse of classes but they had over an online and they are government is telling them that if you unroll online you will not be able to state your visa will not be valid i cannot make any sense of that i dont think and you whoever made that decision wasnt thinking because they impact is going to be huge especially many of our american universities who depend. Incredibly elegant not in their best of those internationalists do things those feelings have to drop out of the result of that i dont know whats going to happen it is really derry fine i feel bad for those students who have played by the rules so that dont ever seem price done now they are not able to keep their recess because they cannot take the courses in person a look at this maybe out of place but i know that. Youre in washington a lot and youve got the president ial medal of freedom when president obama in office i happen to know certain republicans revere you as much and if someone like jeb bush d had been in office he would have given you the president ial medal as well and i may be wrong on this but i think many president ial candidates in fact most of them have spoken at miami dade when they were running for office and so im just interested in whether or not how you see these times of Political Choice and whats at stake how are we thinking about rationality in education and science because thats what you know whether its been president Obama Jeb Bush george w. Bush other folks that have spoken to miami dade students thats what theyve talked about some interested in how you see the choices we have coming in a few months. Well. You know miami they call it as well known as the mall crosses college its an institution being a real source of opportunity for students to be able to make choices to be able to get along with all of us and you are right i mean every president since jimmy carter has been to that college have developed a relationship with that college and not only that but all kind of you know politicians both republicans and democrats been to the college because that college represents what that college has been able to achieve you know as a college nobody would have given them a chance because theyre serving the poor theyre serving immigrants theyre serving minorities 1st Generation College students all the things that are either negatives that college embrace and college just being extremely successful like very few qualities in graduating them in you know making sure they become successful do you look at miami everyone here. In any kind of leadership bill solution for all the private sector or the Public Sector has been doing who went through miami they call it without except almost without exception so its an institution that has really made a difference in the welfare of this community so these times my main concern is that police say politicization of education. Concern about the divisiveness the stake in place a lack of opportunity for. Really express your thoughts and the facts that you know the students are watching that are very very concerned i you know i talk a lot to the students and you know its incredible we have the best generation that i have seen in my 50 years as an educator. This is a generation who have a sense of purpose who really care about their fellow human beings who are students who want to getting gauged in the processes that make america better and theyre very concerned about the future and all the fees that they see happening and. My my hope is that that will change that we will be able to get our common sayings and our Heads Together to make sure that we realize the real values of america what makes this a great nation and the envy of almost every other country in the world and for the solutions of higher ed this is more crucial done than ever before and so so i want to remain optimistic that we are citizens will come to our senses and realize that divisiveness isnt going to get us anywhere and we need to make sure that we Work Together to keep our country what hes supposed to be well i want to thank you eduardo padrone for sharing that optimism i have to say that up here in washington d. C. I dont get much optimism i see a lot of tough times ahead tough struggles and tough fights to maintain the value of education in a time like this and the value and make it matter so thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us today thank you stacey been a pleasure. So whats the bottom line one things for sure this pandemic is disrupting the Education System and theres more disruption on the way on the one hand young people are going to miss out on one of the most important parts of their College Years that wonderful mixing with folks from all different backgrounds ironically the more social lives move on line the more isolated we become and thats just something a covert 1000 is making a lot worse but on the other hand the exclusivity of being educated inside a university as walls is finally being democratized by Online Education so we can look at the pandemic as a mixed blessing or sort of and thats the bottom line. Short films of hope. And inspiration. A series of short personal stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds that. Aljazeera selects. A secret mass grave in ireland discovered at an institution run by catholic nun muse. And Mission Shock to its core. 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