Updating California’s Master Plan for Higher Education Toward Celebrating its 50 th Anniversary

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OUR MISSION

Preparing California's students for effective civic engagement toward updating the California Master Plan for Higher Education which prepares students for productive living and working in the 21st Century.

OUR GOAL

Updating the legendary California Master Plan for Higher Education to assure that our system of higher education is accessible, affordable, and that development of whole person learning model is incorporated which truly equips a person to be prepared for constructive living and working in this profoundly new century. All the while, coaching Californians higher education students and families into an effective team to lead the dialogue.

OUR DELIVERABLES

• Partnering in a “Budget Summit” promoting Civic Engagement to secure public funding to improve student access, affordability, and quality in California state budget in the spirit of the landmark 1960 Master Plan. (December, 8, 2006 – San Francisco State University)
• Updating of California’s Master Plan for Higher Education celebrating its 50 th Anniversary.
• Advancing a 21st century whole-person-centered experiential curriculum.
• Hosting a “Student Leadership Summit” promoting leadership, collaboration, and team-building.
• Developing of a California Higher Education Leadership Team to serve as mentors and supporters of California’s students.

OUR PARTNERS

• CSSA – California Sate Student Association. Leading student advocacy group for the California State University System.
• UCSA – University of California Student Association. The official voice of UC students.
• SSCCC - Student Senate for California Community Colleges - the Student Senate for the California Community Colleges is the representative of Community College Associated Student Organizations.
• AICCU - The Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities serves as the unified statewide voice of independent higher education in California

OUR MANIFESTO

The Politics of Trust proposes to undertake a 2-pronged effort toward assuring that the State and People of California have available to them such a quality higher education and work force:

First - to empower the students of each and all of California higher education segments to come together and far more effectively take a leadership and advocacy role to assure that the State of California moves toward providing such real quality higher education to every qualified Californian;

Second - to redefine and upgrade what kind of higher education will best assure that hoped-for future for the People and State of California.

Our manifesto for this new expanded and deepened vision of higher education for the State and People of California includes:

1 - That (a space in) California higher education be available for each and every qualified California student - keeping faith with the legendary successful California Master Plan for Higher Education;

2 - That (a space in) California higher education be affordable for each and every qualified California student - akin to the marvelously successful G.I. Bill of Rights which the federal Government enacted after World War II;

3 - That such higher education shall envision and approach its students and their lives in a much more faithful holistic manner recognizing that each student is by nature a learner, that what s/he needs and deserves is a comprehensive educational experience that inspires and fully prepares him/her:

- To become a self-initiating, self-sustaining lifelong learner;

- To have developed all her/his capacities essential for living and working productively and satisfyingly in the world of the 21st century;

- A century in which California's greatest challenge is to realize the promise of our multicultural democracy, with gender equity, in the global economy, in this age of technology;

- Recognizing that such an educational experience is best (if not only) assured in the presence and support of an institution which constitues itself as a learning community;

4 - That such a higher education, in order to fully develop all the critical capacities of each student in order to fully prepare her/him for such productive and gratifying living and working in the 21st century - ought to include attention to:

- Bringing together and proclaiming a 21st century whole-person-centered experiential curriculum that will truly prepare students for productive and gratifying living and working in the 21st century;

Which educational experience shall include:

- Civic engagement and service learning;

- Intellectual development (including capacities for analysis and objectivity and critical thinking);

- Emotional intelligence and subjectivity;

- Moral/character education and spiritual and psychological development;

- Self respect and human relationships and a sense of community;

- Technology and diversity awarenesses and skills and comforts;

5 - That such a higher education shall include new forms of accountability.

We hope to undertake and accomplish the upgrading of California higher education by our bringing together and helping empower for effective civic engagement - the several respective (both already operational and now being created) California statewide student government associations of the various segments of California higher education, including:

** The University of California student Association (UCSA)

** The California State University student Association (CSSA)

** The California Community College statewide student Academic Senate (SSCCC)

**Students of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU).

6 - We propose to provide all these students all the tools they are going to need to grow themselves into an effective combined force for effective civic engagement to assure themselves available affordable whole-person-centered higher education designed to help enable each of them to develop all of their capacities so that they can live and work productively and satisfyingly in the worked of the 21st century, including:

- Tools for team-building and partnership and collaboration

- Leadership development

- Tools for effective civic engagement

7 - Finally, of course 'The Politics of Trust' fully expects to consult and collaborate with the leaders of each and all of the segments of California higher education towards refining and improving this proposal such that it truly comes to be owned by, believed in, and committed to by them as being extremely likely to enable them to engage themselves more effectively in civic engagement so as to assure themselves (and the people and state of California) the accessible affordable real world whole-person-centered higher education that will help enable them to develop all their capacities so as to grow able to live and work productively and satisfyingly in the real world of the 21st century.

Contact Program Director, Jon Hellesoe at jon@politicsoftrust.net. to join today.