Da Shi and the Corporate Raiding of the California Community College
Warning: This article contains mild spoilers about Three Body Problem, the Hugo Award winning 2006 science fiction novel by Liu Cixin, adapted to the screen in Chinese in 2023, and in English in 2024.
By June Yang
The Jumping Off Place is a forum in which we are invited to play and have some fun. Let us play now and mix two seemingly unrelated genres, non-fiction education policy analysis and science fiction. There is at least one overlap between these two genres, and it is public morality, or justice. Science fiction imagines possible worlds and futures in ways that test the limits of our morality and conceptions of justice. Think Dune or Star Wars. Science fiction plots often include the shocking discovery that erstwhile benevolent agents are now engaged in outrageously immoral plans to destroy other species, or even entire worlds. (“Luke, I am your father!”)
Education policy is the attempt to provide the benefits of education to as many as possible, thereby striving to achieve the vision of a just society in the real world. Here in California, we have had a great deal of education policy legislated upon us since 2012, and much of it has been directed at the California Community College (CCC). Recently, we have been forced to eliminate Intermediate Algebra because of AB 1705 and there is a looming “fiscal cliff” brought to us by the Student-Centered Funding Formula (SCFF).[i]
Let us see how one genre can help us to understand the other, especially with conceptions and mechanisms productive of justice. Ready? Let’s play!
Meet Da Shi. Da Shi is a detective in Three-Body Problem whose investigative methodology is summarized in “You have to connect all the dots. Of course I didn’t need to busy myself with such concerns before, but after I was transferred from the crime unit to the Battle Command Center, it became part of my job. Even General Chang is impressed by my talent for connecting the dots.”[ii]
At the opening of Liu’s celebrated novel, there is a great amount of incoherent information. One such incoherence is why so many scientists, a demographic not prone to suicide, are ending their lives in unprecedented rates. Another riddle is why particle accelerators are being targeted for terrorism, and what data they manage to produce is unpredictable. In other words, all the characters and organizations that Da Shi investigates appear to be pro-science and research, yet sabotage and bad experimental results are everywhere.
In fact, prominent members of the affected scientific community are reacting in a highly suspicious and unusual, almost nonchalant, manner. Da Shi carefully follows his gut and starts asking some questions and following these members around. In the end, he uncovers the explanation for why the research community is not addressing the mayhem as he and we, the readers, expect that they would. Let us say that it is this deeper reality complete with a realm of unknown agents that explains the superficially incoherent information we learn of at the beginning of the novel. Da Shi gets us convincingly to this reality by the end of Three-Body Problem, in which the contradictions have found a resolution, one which is couched in terms of justice. In other words, Da Shi has connected the dots.
Gentle Jumping Off Place reader, are you ready to return to the education policy analysis genre now? Ok. Let’s do it.
Let’s imagine a group of us run into Da Shi as we are lamenting how all this legislation directed at our CCC in the name of equity is depressing and not transparent. We explain how tired we are from rewriting perfectly good curriculum and trying to convince students that they should take a Math support class in order to survive a class that they are not prepared for. One of us says how this demoralizes our students and makes them feel less optimistic about all their other classes. Someone else makes a snide joke, “Let’s make one of those 1705 proponents take Calculus with a support class. If they fail, they must pay the tuition of a full-time student for an entire year, and buy the student’s books, too!”
Da Shi sees that we are frustrated and looks at us with great compassion, and with a bit of mischief, too. He is at the same place as he was at the beginning of Three-Body Problem, so he sets about asking us questions to gather information.
Da Shi: What is the CCC for? What do you do there?
Us: We used to have a four-part mission: Remediation, workforce training, transfer, and lifelong learning. Now we have been reduced to transfer and workforce training.
Da Shi: Don’t some of your students require remediation? What if a student returns after a long time away from math, they cannot take a basic math class? What if someone does not know basic math, and wants to learn how to balance a checkbook? They cannot learn these things at your community schools? Your schools are called “community colleges,” correct?
Us: We used to serve our communities, but now we only offer transfer-level Math because of AB 1705 passed in 2022, a law telling us what Math we can teach, and which the state Chancellor’s office interpreted strictly. In fact, it gets even worse. Beginning in 25/26, the CCC will only offer Calculus for STEM majors.
Da Shi: What? Did I hear you correctly? Because I know the only other schools that start STEM students at Calculus are private schools, such as Stanford. So, your Chancellor thinks that your students are as well-prepared as Stanford students? Did your Chancellor have a choice on how to interpret this 1705 law?
Us: Yes, the previous Chancellor interpreted the law as strictly as possible when Intermediate Algebra was eliminated two years ago. The current Chancellor, Sonya Christian, is also forcing the elimination of all pre-Calculus courses next year, but they did not have to go that way. So, they had a choice in how to apply the law.
Da Shi: Who wrote this 1705 law?
Us: 1705 came from one of these external advocacy groups, Campaign for College Opportunity. They do not work for any of the CCC partners, who are administrators, faculty, or classified professionals. They are also called edu-philanthropies, which means they are like the education version of philanthrocapitalism.[iii] Do you know about philanthrocapitalism?
Da Shi: Yes, please go on.
Us: These groups write legislation using simplistic data models and predictions, they pass these laws, and then we and our students get stuck implementing a poorly thought-out law. Chancellor Sonya Christian was one of the leads at Campaign for College Opportunity when they pushed hard for the 1705 law.
Da Shi: Why do these edu-philanthropies care to get involved? Who funds their activities?
Us: These edu-philanthropies are essentially outside consulting groups who want to change how we educate our students and what they should learn. They site success statistics that have not changed in decades since we are an open access system with multiple missions. Not all our students are here to transfer or earn a degree. Many just come to take a class or two for lifelong learning. Suddenly, like overnight beginning in 2012, the CCC is a failure because of these unchanging numbers, and they know how to fix us. They’ve manufactured a crisis to meddle in our work!
Da Shi: Calm down please, you didn’t tell me who funds these groups?
Us: Ahhh….student loan companies, student debt collection companies, real estate companies, Bill Gates, Walmart, and many others. Some are very well-intentioned.
Da Shi: It is strange that student loan and debt collection companies are altruistic with respect to the CCC, especially since they fight student loan forgiveness tooth and nail at the federal level. So it is clear these edu-philanthropies think you at the CCC are doing a poor job and they are taking the driver’s seat away from you through laws. What does the data say about this 1705 law that will push your STEM students into Calculus in the 25/26 school year?
Us: The Chancellor’s own data shows that less students are enrolling in transfer level math, and we do not know how many students dropped before census date in these classes.[iv] So, our statewide union, CFT, is working for a joint legislative audit to see the full impact. If we knew how many STEM students left because the coursework was unbearable before census date, we could better quantify the harm to our students.
Da Shi: What is this skiff I heard you discussing as you were approaching?
Us: The SCFF is an acronym for the Student-Centered Funding Formula that was passed in 18/19 as a budget trailer bill, which meant it was not vetted by affected parties. And we and our students are the most affected parties! The sponsors of SCFF snuck it in, and we are now calling the implementation of it the “fiscal cliff.” SCFF alters our funding structures and motivates colleges to prioritize classes and programs that bring in the money, instead of what all our students need. For example, the SCFF prioritizes completion of Transfer Level Math in a student’s first year and pays for each student that does so.
Da Shi: So it looks like the SCFF works well with the 1705 mentioned above that has eliminated Intermediate Algebra, and will soon eliminate pre-Calculus courses. SCFF and 1705 appear to complement one another because they give a money incentive to make colleges convince students to take advanced Math in their first year. Is this correct?
Us: Yes, and the SCFF pays schools for Associate Degrees for Transfer, which means that schools now focus on students who are here to transfer to university rather than, for example, an English as a Second Language program, which is so important to our immigrant and refugee populations.
Da Shi: I took ESL courses myself, but never graduated from college, as I proudly proclaim in many places in Three Body Problem. But those courses are why I am able to learn so much from you fine people now about what is happening to the CCC. My time is limited, but do you have any more information for me? I walk this path often and might run into you again.
Us: The Promise Scholarship is relevant to tell you about, which brings funding to a school for students in need of financial aid. The catch is that the Promise Scholarship requires students to be enrolled full-time, or in 12 units, and to complete those units with a C or better. If a student cannot, they must repay this amount, presumably to the student loan companies. Many of our students cannot complete such a course load with all their other obligations, and end up in debt as a result.
Da Shi: This is very unfortunate for your students, who are already stressed beyond imagination. A lot has changed since my days in school. Any more information for me?
Us: We agree. Our students are under so much pressure. Let’s see… Oh yes! We forgot to tell you that the Foundation for the State Chancellor’s office went from an operating budget of about 15 million to about 120 million a few years ago.
Da Shi: [gasps and eyes go wide]
Us: Can you connect all these dots for us as you did in Three-Body Problem?
Da Shi: Yes, at least an outline of how all these dots are connected. Have you heard of corporate raiding or capture of regulatory agencies? This happened with Scott Pruitt and your Environmental Protection Agency. It is clear why an oil lobbyist would want to take over your EPA. Your CCC case is more mixed, but I think the best underlying reality to explain these edu-philanthropies getting involved in your business, especially those groups backed by student loan and debt collection companies, is the strongest evidence that this legislation might not be in your students’ best interest.
Us: Can you explain “might not be?”
Da Shi: Isn’t it obvious? This 1705 and Promise Scholarship create an unreasonable workload for your students, and who wins in the end? The loan companies and debt collectors of course. And your Chancellor Sonya Christian came from the consulting group that made 1705 happen, and now she is interpreting it as strictly as possible. What reason can there be to have your STEM students start in Calculus? You have to connect the dots, like I do.
Us: [We stare in silence at Da Shi and blink.]
Da Shi: [sighs] I could go on and question the motivation of why Walmart is concerned about how your students are taught. One guess is that an uneducated people do not feel powerful and are less likely to stand up for themselves and unionize, for instance, and this is good for Walmart. Bill Gates appears to have other reasons, the same ones that are devastating your K-12 system. But look at the time! Even a minute longer and I will miss Dr. Ye. I must run now. Talk again soon!
Us: Bye Dai Shi and thank you for your initial analysis! We hope to meet again!
[i] For more analysis on the SCFF, see “Show me the Money” sponsored by FACCC.
[ii] Liu, Cixin, The Three-Body Problem Tr. Ken Liu, China Educational, 2014, page 135
[iii] For more information about Philanthrocapitalism, see Giridharadas, Anand, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, Vintage Books, 2018.
[iv] Chancellor’s Transfer-Level English and Math Completion Data” is here.