Terrible Ideas in Higher Ed: Hizzoner Da Mayor Edition

Via Inside Higher Ed, a brilliant new approach to the problem of high tuition costs, coutesy of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (whose highly impartial Wikipedia entry is a hoot):

The runaway cost of a college education has been on the mayor’s radar screen for some time. Last year, Daley suggested a fifth year of high school to address a crisis that he warned threatens to reduce the American birthrate.

On Friday, he suggested that colleges clean up their own act.

“They should cut half the courses. It would cut the cost down tremendously. What are the basic courses that you need in college? Cut some of the unnecessary courses out” to reduce administrative overhead and let students graduate sooner, he said.

That’s… brilliant. While we’re at it, let me be the first to suggest dealing with the high cost of food in restaurants by cutting portion sizes in half.