The task force's proposal has already raised questions about how students might game the system. Students could declare an engineering major for several years only to switch to medieval and Renaissance studies before graduation.
That's a hitch the universities would have to work out.
And if you don't think the Renaissance men and women should pay more to subsidize the biochemists with all of their expensive lab equipment, tough. It's about time Florida gets more serious about turning out the right kind of work force.
Sen. Don Gaetz, who will take over as president of the Florida Senate after the election, told me he was open to the idea. He recently expressed concern that Florida didn't have enough nurses and engineers to fill all the help-wanted ads in Florida.
"My real concern is making sure a college education actually qualifies a student for a real job," Gaetz said.
Imagine that: a practical approach to education that tries to ensure that when students walk off the commencement stage with a degree — and sometimes a heavy debt load — they are able to find work that keeps them from moving back in with mom and dad.
A tuition incentive alone isn't enough, though.
We all know that politicians are reluctant to touch Florida's middle-class-entitlement program: Bright Futures scholarships. But why not require students who want to qualify for the top level of Bright Futures to take higher levels of math and science in high school?
These are the kinds of approaches Scott and the Legislature need to consider. Or we'll keep graduating students with cheap degrees who come up empty when they search Monster.com.
bkassab@tribune.com or 407-420-5448
