Recently, I found something in a box of memorabilia — an Aug. 3, 1979 Michigan Daily, the student newspaper of the University of Michigan.

Why do we save old newspapers or magazines?  Why did I save this one?  Maybe it’s because, in 1979, I was back on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, working on a new minor, after graduating in 1973 with a major in English and a minor in psychology in the School of Education.

I was a high school teacher, and the certification rules in Michigan required that a teacher take additional credit hours to maintain certification.  Rather than working toward a Master’s degree, which would make me more expensive in the tight 1970 economy, I chose to obtain a second minor in journalism.

On Page 3, student reporter Patricia Hagen wrote a long article called “Education Department: Boon or Blunder?”

Now, 46 years later, let’s see what those Hagen interviewed had to say about a proposed Department of Education by then-president Jimmy Carter.

David Heebink, assistant to the University (of Michigan) president, and University Prof. Wilbur Cohen, who served as Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), in 1968, say they are uncertain of the merits of another department. ... “We’re pretty dubious about it, but we could live with it,” Heebink said.

The article goes on.  “Cohen said the proposed department ‘won’t help the University of Michigan one iota.’”  The 1979 article further quoted Cohen as saying that the proposed department was a “completely political move” by President Carter to “win the votes of the National Education Association members.”  The new department would “cost more,” said Cohen.

Conversely, “Rep. Carl Pursell (D-Ann Arbor) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich) are strongly in favor of establishing the cabinet-level unit.”  Pursell claimed that the proposed new department would be “a big step forward in terms of efficiency.”

Notice that none of the politicians or professors interviewed in 1979 talked about the possibilities of improving student test scores or graduation rates.

In the ensuing 46 years, taxpayers have spent billions.  Students, sadly, have gained nothing.

Barbara Kalbfleisch is retired.  She enjoys photography and is an accredited Shutterstock contributor, specializing in editorial photography.

Image via Pxhere.