Posted on 09/26/2008 4:27:48 PM PDT by thinkingIsPresuppositional
Higher (Priced) Education
By Burt Prelutsky
Oscar Wilde once described a cynic as a man who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. It makes me wonder, were he alive today, if he would characterize us as a country of cynics or merely dismiss us as a nation of fools.
I mean, how is it that Americans who lived hardscrabble lives 150 years ago could read, write, do math problems, and quote at length from Shakespeare and the Bible, while today, in spite of “Sesame Street,” pre-school, Operation Head Start, computers, and mind-numbing hours of homework, millions of youngsters entering college can do none of those things?
It seems obvious to me that our education system, which costs us billions and billions of dollars, is a wreck. While not all of it is the fault of the teachers unions, affirmative action, bi-lingual education, and the emphasis on promoting self-esteem in the youngsters, a lot of it is. But if there was any one thing I would change tomorrow, it’s the loony notion that everyone should get a college degree.
It’s as if the nation’s water supply had been tampered with by one of those fairy tale witches who was always up to no good, poisoning apples, putting people into comas, locking them up in towers, and placing curses on newborn babies. One day, it seems, everybody in America woke up convinced that he or she was the parent of a young scholar. No matter what sacrifice they had to make for their budding Albert Einstein or Marie Curie, they would see to it that their young sprouts made it safely through the groves of academe.
As a result, the biggest con game, the slickest racket, in America is the co-called college education.
Now, please understand, I have nothing against education. My only objection is the way the whole thing works. Why, for instance, do you think students are required to devote four years to undergraduate studies? It’s simply because that’s how the colleges make their money. It’s like the movies. They don’t make their profit selling you a ticket, they clean up at the concession stand selling you popcorn and over-priced candy and sodas.
What they claim is that they want to turn out well-rounded individuals, but that is such an obvious lie, it’s a wonder that anyone believes it for a second. Hardly anyone in America has been all that well-rounded since Thomas Jefferson passed away. Aside from learning how to drink themselves into a stupor and smooth-talk members of the opposite sex, those first four years have no other purpose than to drain off thousands of dollars from mom and dad in order to pay exorbitant salaries to administrators, professors, and a gaggle of athletic coaches.
There is a solution to this madness, but it would require that we quit pretending that anyone should be devoting four years to listening to lazy left-wing professors nattering on about 20th century comic books, 19th century French poetry, the movies of Sam Fuller, the scribbling of Noam Chomsky, or the sex life of Henry Miller.
What I propose is that they turn colleges and universities into libraries, zoos, hospitals or, for all I care, parking lots or low-income housing. And in place of these ivory towers, I would institute an assortment of trade schools. But not just those traditional trade schools where high school graduates learn to be mechanics, plumbers, and carpenters, but trade schools for lawyers, doctors, accountants and architects.
Frankly, I don’t care if my doctor has ever read Baudelaire or my accountant can tell a Manet from a Monet, not that they could even if they’d wasted four years of their lives as undergrads. Thanks to computers and the local library, anybody can bone up on just about anything he’s interested in, and it doesn’t cost upwards of $100,000 to do it.
My system is far more efficient than what we have today, plus parents wouldn’t have to mortgage their homes just so Johnny and Susie can attend a school that has ivy on its walls or a Rose Bowl-bound football team.
In time, I believe, we could learn to accept that what we now refer to as a college education is just a pastime, except, of course, when it’s really just a joke.
bookmark and ping
Yes, it is. Hardly anything is worth the paper it’s written on anymore.
The most socially irresponsible class in America is the group known as “College Presidents.”
When I was a young Freshman at a fine private college in 1966, my tuition was $990 a year. I could make that in one summer of hard work as a (non-union) construction laborer.
Today the same school charges $29,000 and has already seved notice they will break $30,000 next year. Sick, sick, sick.
It’s only for rich kids now. Or welfare students.
Notice that at one time, “room and board” at a private college was actually slightly MORE than tuition.
Makes me wonder if the author has a college degree. I think probably not.
And oh so true.
Trade schools are a great idea.
I think the president at Ohio State (Elwood Gorden Gee) makes nearly $2M per year. It’s not uncommon for other administrators there to make as much as $500M or more. Disgusting!
Liberal arts degrees are not worth today’s college cost. Plain and simple.
Mega dittos Tigs. We’re trying to come up with $15,000 extra $$$ to send Al to private Christian college where all her friends are going. It’s probably the most conservative school in the nation, by far, but we’re strongly against debt and the closer the time comes, the more I’m having second thoughts.
Hillsdale?
“I think the president at Ohio State (Elwood Gorden Gee) makes nearly $2M per year. It’s not uncommon for other administrators there to make as much as $500M or more. Disgusting!”
I meant $500K, not $500M. :)
I don't have one either.
First year or two of college is teaching kids what kids in other countries already know BEFORE they enter college.
One of my granddaughters graduated Cum Laud from an expensive private Lutheran University during Memorial Day weekend.
No Anthem was sung, no pledge of allegiance. Not a word was mentioned in memory of those who gave life or limb to keep the country free. And no prayer was said for the graduating class.
But! The keynote speaker was an alumni who is in the State Department in Washington, D.C.. Her speech covered the glories of working for the government, and she cordially solicited the class to apply to the State Department.
My granddaughter didn’t learn anything of value there. She says her mother and dad are givers, and she is a taker; and she calls those of us who see through Barack Obama racists!
I would say whatever education she may have had prior to her freshman year was more than undone at this “Chriatian” University.
I certainly hope she is the exception rather than the rule!
I don’t know if Prelutsky has a degree, but I have a B.A. in English and one in French, an M.A. in linguistics, and a teaching credential, and I agree with him. I paid a lot of money for the privilege of being exposed to what was 20% literature and %80 marxist twaddle.
Not exactly a great fit to this ping list but an interesting read.
Education is another one of those darn near worthless degrees.
Remember reading the wonderful Langston Hughes...American Communist?
“Oscar Wilde once described a cynic as a man who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing”
I’d just like to point out that this sentiment is economically nonsensical. Prices are a rationing function, and while they must take into consideration people’s valuation as expressed by demand, there is no such thing as abstract “value.”
Thank You! And coming from someone who went for Communications...it seemed like the great decision at the time...everyone and their mother is “settling” on communications now as a fall back. An AA has become nothing more than a high school diploma on steroids.
To say nothing of Alfred Kinsey.
I've worked for the most stupid people in the world whose only claim to their success is that they had college degrees. I knew the job forwards, backwards, sideways and inside out but had no degree.
Once I got to the corporate office it was horrendous. I worked with hard working, dedicated people and we in turn worked for morons who only got their positions because they were college grads. Get yourself a masters? You're now a manager..............automatic!
Technical degrees are another thing but in my line of field, (HR) anybody can do the job once you learn the corporation's HR policies..........
I always post this in threads about college tuition because it is possible to do it tuition free.
High school years spent doing Dual Credit...graduate High School and get an AA at the same time...in our state, this option is tuition free at any State College or University.
Our state also has a merit scholarship for a State University of your choice, requirements are SAT/ACT score, grade point, etc. So that way you have your Bachelor’s tuition free.
Our son is now in grad school and has a Graduate Assistantship (this time it’s a private school GA granted according to GMAT score.) GA position requires 20 hours work per week for a prof, and in turn the college grants full time grad tuition (9 hours per term) and a small stipend.
If you live in an area where there are colleges in proximity to your home, the student can commute and that eliminates housing/board, so the main expense for a Bachelor’s and Master’s has been the cost of books (between 500-700 per term.)
I’ve said for years that if you look at the three areas that had skyrocketing costs, they all suffered from enormous government distortion of market forces.
Government enterprises backed bad loans—Housing prices shot up
Government funds or backs student loans—College costs soar
GOvernment pays for and regulates large sections of the health care sector—Health care costs rise
If the government would simply keep its hands on courts, security and securing liberties it would be amazing to see what things REALLY cost and what new ways our society would change.
I can say as someone who will be finishing up at a major state school (after many years of off time) that the degree is just a credential. I’ve met people with advanced degrees that were as versed in Dostoevsky as high school dropouts.
I agree with this writer’s proposal. I think the government should step away from all student loans and let’s see what happens.
It’s not that I don’t think someone should learn about something more than their field (especially since so many people change their mind after exposure) I just think they overdo. All the little curriculum requirements that vary from university to university and even schools in the university are all directed at separating students from their money by making them waste more time.
4 years is entirely too long for what is NOW essentially a high school diploma when it comes to the job market.
I may finish in another year and a half but I expect I’ll have to head to grad school not too long after to see any REAL return on investment.
Well, I confess I did like his “Mother to Son” (Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair...) But yeah... lots of leftie writing. I hate bell hooks. And I had to read William Ayers to get my teaching credential. I knew who he was WAY before the Obama thing. I was actually in a Ph.D. program in anthropology. Did three years of coursework before I finally snapped and said, “I am done with this #$%^&.”
The only degrees worth having.
There’s an employer here that i won’t name where I found out that one of the managers didn’t even have a degree. It was simply a matter of putting in time but the problem was, well-qualified and experienced people were not getting ahead EVEN though they ALSO had a degree.
The discrimination can go both ways, sometimes.
BUt basically, I’ve met so many utter morons who had degrees, it’s become clear that it’s just an expensive delay of a large segment of young people hitting the job market and an excuse for extending our adolescence and justify the existences of professors and administrators.
I don’t know. But, he was a screenwriter for the TV show M*A*S*H among others (believe it or not).
Prelutsky and Professor Williams are asking the wrong question. They should be asking, “Is High School worth it?”
Prof. Walter Williams: Is College Worth It ?
Townhall ^ | August 27,2008 | Walter Williams
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2069487/posts
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 6:20:40 PM by SeekAndFind
.
.
Here’s a thread I started a couple of years ago.
High School Equivalency Exam
World Wide Web Links | 1/6/05 | Kevin O’Malley
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts
Posted on 01/06/2005 7:58:45 PM PST by Kevin OMalley
Or Illegals!
I agree except that high schools would need to do much more to help students decide which vocation they want to go into. Most people I know changed majors after going to college because they really didn’t know what they ultimately wanted to do. This would not be all that difficult, but it would need to be addressed.
Otherwise, it’s about what I’ve been saying.
susie
It’s called Florida College. It’s a tiny little Christian college in Tampa. It’s a very good school for it’s size, but it’s expensive...like all schools. *sigh*
There’s not more outrage because many don’t really pay for their college (or if they do they have a loan and so it’s not until they are paying it off later that they feel the pain).
susie
You better finish your studies, or you'll end up in Iraq!"
2 of ours went to state colleges and we paid for some of it and took loans for some of it (which we are still paying off as we had a deal, if they got their degree we would pay the loans off, if they quit before graduation THEY would pay them off). The other one went to a private college, which was about twice the cost of the state schools, but fortunately he got a scholarship which covered about half. I don’t know if it was worth it, but I’m glad they all went to college. I was the first in my immediate family to get a college degree, but my husband’s family is lousy with them! Oh, and my middle son just got his MBA. What a bad time to get that!
susie
A lot of good points here, but some caveats. College is basically an expensive weeding out process for professional schools (doctors, lawyers, etc.) as it is. Your application is generally half your standardized test score and half your college gpa.
In Britain they filter out kids early by ability and put them on different career paths.
In Germany there are a ton of trade schools as well and they filter out kids really early.
America really needs less people with “women’s-studies” degrees and the like.
Spoken like an illustration of what this article is all about.
When you are older you will begin to grasp the classic definition of the liberal arts: The skills needed by a free man to discern for himself what is the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.
Note it says "discern," not "decide."
There is nothing I learned in business college that I couldn’t have learned sitting at a computer. Every young person needs to get up in front of people and talk, though. And the text book scam is criminal!
I would tend to agree with you and Prelutsky. I don’t regret living certain experiences in college but MIchigan was awfully expensive and unless you’re going into pharmacy, medicine or engineering it’s just not worth it.
I remember dropping more than one class after discovering the political indoctrination that would occur.
I did have one wonderful professor who taught specialized in southeast Asia and also taught a Vietnam War course and actually said (at Berkeley Midwest!) that he felt the foreign policy of the US was usually oriented, even if awful mistakes or misapprehensions occurred, towards a positive ultimate goal.
However, I remember registering for a Japanese literature course and the professor was wearing all-black. NOt sure why, but I knew it was a signal. Then I read the syllabus and struggled to see where in all the queer, postcolonial and critical theory we were actually going to encounter JAPANESE LITERATURE. I dropped that immediately.
If you’re not in a field where your degree will provide instant entree into a profession, you probably paid too much.
Just read Money magazine and schools that had lagging enrollment RAISED tuition and INCREASED enrollment because now the fools have been convinced that it’s the cost that demonstrates the worth of the university.
A good friend of mine actually finished at U-M and his degree is essentially worthless compared to his time with management experience.
But to get access to those jobs you either stay in the SAME PLACE for a decade or two or you show off your fancy degree and make all the knowledgeable underlings hate you. :)
I don't know either, but it could be because so many students get either a free ride, or low-cost, taxpayer-subsidized tuition so they don't see the true price. The increase in price has far outstripped the actual cost, and the rate of inflation.
A little competition would help, but the major accrediting agencies have a monopoly these days. And like any monopoly, price will not be controlled.
“Aside from learning how to drink themselves into a stupor and smooth-talk members of the opposite sex, those first four years have no other purpose than to drain off thousands of dollars from mom and dad in order to pay exorbitant salaries to administrators, professors, and a gaggle of athletic coaches.”
I agree. I want a nation of young workers who have never studied any economic theory or finance, or any history beyond the high-school stuff, and never had any logic classes or even got a glancing familiarity with any of the classics of Western civilization like the philosophy of the Ancient Greeks. And a trade school system will not have hard-drinking late-adolescents looking to get laid, or professors and administrators, and won’t drain off thousands of mom and dad’s dollars sleeping late and skipping classes. The students will be serious and get the job done, because they will finally generally realize that they have to work for a living and get a job after college. They don’t do that now.
With an education like this, our tough American workers can compete with any 21-century educated worker in the world. The fundamental approach to life that we had in 1858 was good enough for our great-great-great-grandparents. It should be good enough for us.
Seriously I see a boom in demand for farriers, since driving is so frickin’ expensive.
Be kind Doctor. I'm a paper salesman.
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