What Are the Problems to be Solved, Problems That Are Associated with the Issue?

Issues. My, how I distrust that word. Issues are genuinely important matters. However, my distrust arises with people who try to make issues synonymous with problems. Issues are topics for discussion. Quite simply, issues are nothing more than talking points. Issues cannot be solved. Accountability, access, achievement, accreditation-these words identify issues which lie proudly, even arrogantly, on the education platter. Each word is a positive, powerful concept. Each can be slavishly worshiped. Rarely, however, do we subject issues to rigorous analysis. No one asks, "What are the problems to be solved, problems that are associated with the issue?"

In University Business, professor emeritus Virginia McBride of Mt. San Antonio College provides her suggestion regarding semantic clarity.