University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds has had a running theme about the "higher education bubble" and the huge increases in cost for higher education.
On one side you have the student loan bandits saddling kids with loans they will have a difficult time repaying. Add to the fact that student loans are not dischargeable in a bankruptcy and you essentially have people in their 40's or 50's paying off courses they took 30 years earlier. On the other side you have universities raising rates to egregious levels knowing that students will not worry about the consequences of paying those loans back and will pony up the cash.
What we are left with is a higher education system that is nothing but a business and the return on investment is horrific sometimes taking decades to "break even"...if ever. A student with a degree in Diversity or Ethnic Studies will never make that money back.
To make matters worse, our campuses are a nightmare of liberal thought and gestapo tactics designed to keep it that way.
Take Swarthmore College in the suburbs of Philly. Click the link above to find out just how insane things have gotten as described by the esteemed Thomas Sowell. Here's a snippet:
An all-too-familiar scene was enacted on the campus of Swarthmore College during a meeting on May 4 to discuss demands by student activists for the college to divest itself of its investments in companies that deal in fossil fuels. As a speaker was beginning a presentation to show how many millions of dollars such a disinvestment would cost the college, student activists invaded the meeting, seized the microphone, and shouted down a student who rose in the audience to object.
Although there were professors and administrators in the room — including the college president — apparently nobody had the guts to put a stop to these storm-trooper tactics. Nor is it likely that there will be any punishment of those who put their own desires above the rights of others. On the contrary, these students went on to demand mandatory campus “teach-ins,” and the administration caved on that demand. Among their other demands are that courses on ethnic studies, and on gender and sexuality, be made a requirement for graduation.That's just one example and this at a notoriously liberal private institution but it is playing out at public colleges around the country as well. As the saying goes "those who can't do, teach". That's essentially what we are seeing now. We have people teaching our students who never did anything. They've never built a business, risked their money, lost sleep over missing a payroll, faced the real threat of losing their house or any of the other things a person in business has to deal with regularly. They went to school, attained an advanced degree in 'Gender Studies', obtained a teaching job teaching the same useless course and are sitting fat with tenure on the back of the next wave of students who are in hock they'll never get out of.
Note that the students in the linked article that they want classes on ethnic studies, gender and sexuality to be mandatory thus costing those who are attending with borrowed money more debt. Now I know not all people who teach at a college are in this category but an alarming number are and that number is burgeoning. This is the norm at many campuses. When did we get to the point that one was required to go to college to "make something of oneself"? How is a graduate of Duke University with a degree in "International Relations" working at Starbucks and collecting welfare a more honorable person than the guy who owns a sprinkler repair company or a plumber? Because they didn't go into massive debt, attend course on human sexuality and get a piece of paper that says they're educated they are considered lesser? Here's a bit of info for you; the plumbers, electricians and construction workers of this world are the ones who are getting up every morning, buying coffee at 7-11 and paying taxes. They are the ones who made America great and continue to do so. We need to get back to the point where a signed piece of parchment means you are "somebody".
Yes, a degree in engineering means you have passed the course and learned the basics but no one in this world comes out of college ready to work in their chosen field. It takes years to attain the skills needed to be a productive employee. I recall when I owned my own business and I was interviewing a recent graduate. The interview was great and I looked to hire this kid. The going rate was $45-50K a year. When I asked the kid how much he wanted, he said "$80,000 to start, that's what my professor said I was worth". My response was simple: "You've been chasing pussy and drinking beer for four years and have no idea what to do in this business. If your professor says you're worth $80K, have him hire you" and I showed him the door.
And that is it in a nutshell; we have far too many students promised a rainbow at graduation and their heads are filled with bullshit about how much they will make. Meanwhile they continue to sign up for even more loans and get into more debt without ever gaining the necessary skills to make the money back.
As an aside: I used to have numerous battles with Swarthmore student or "Swatties" as they're known. They are a product of the liberal elite in our nation. They went to the finest schools and enjoyed growing up the offspring of limousine liberals. Click the link above to find out exactly how they think. It's a horrifying look into what these young leftist's want our country to become and, with Obama guiding them. are getting closer to achieving.
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