Utah rates critically low in its higher education
Lee Benson
He will tell you that Utah ranks 45th in the nation in the number of its high school graduates moving directly on to college; he will tell you that Utah ranks 33rd in the nation in the percentage of young people ages 25-34 who have college degrees and that the number continues to drop; he will tell you that Utah is at or near the bottom in manufactured exports and venture capital activity and that it ranks ninth out of the 10 Western states in patent rates — at 1/10th the pace of Idaho: all reflections of a serious technology deficiency.
But maybe the most sobering stop-you-in-your-tracks statistic of all is when he tells you: "Last year, out of an overall enrollment of about 90,000 in our colleges and universities, we only produced seven chemistry teachers."
Then he adds:
"And fewer than 100 math teachers."
All of the above points to what Caldwell calls "a rapid decline" in the state's attitude toward higher education.
Caldwell, who was born and raised in Utah, attended Weber State University, got his undergraduate degree from Utah State University, his law degree from Brigham Young University and once taught at the University of Utah, comes to his pessimism reluctantly and only after spending years outside of Utah observing "the rest of the world."
Before he took the head job at Dixie State a year ago last summer, he did just about everything but play shortstop for the Yankees.
He can speak five languages; he was on the ground floor of the startup of Novell, the technology giant; he's taught and been an administrator at universities in Utah, Texas, Indiana and Georgia; he's brought in six-figure salaries working for IBM and Hewlett Packard; and since he was a pioneer in computer networking and is personal friends with Vinton Cerf, "The Father of the Internet," he can honestly say — although he hasn't — that he invented the Internet, sort of.
After doing most of the above away from Utah, he was appalled when he returned to his home state to see ruin and backsliding in higher education.
"When I came back and started looking at national data, I was stunned by what the state had done to itself," he says. "This is a state with one of the most rapid declines in education over the past 10 years, and people are discussing whether we are producing too many college degrees. I was shocked."
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