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.
Seriously, though, the college educated are a selected population, they generally have more talent, ambition and drive than those who do not attend. A college education can be an indication of these traits. I am not sure there is any evidence that a college education, per se, adds a lot of value.
Another issue is certification and licensure. More opportunities are open to people with academic “credentials”, no matter how dubious the value of said credentials.
Well said and true. Outside of very few professions, I consider most college degrees to be less that worthless because they inflate in the mind of the graduate a sense of educational achievement and enlightenment. In most cases, this is entirely unfounded.
Yep. My husband makes too much for my daughter to get help. If he made less or we had about 6 more kids, we would be much better off. :)
Same here! A major in communications at a university, following an AA in marketing (a popular major in the '80's). What a waste of my time and money!
At the very least, I should've listened to my father's advice and majored in data processing. ;-)
College education was obviously a ripoff for the editor/creator of the graphic.
They could not catch the misspelled words: Diploma ("Deploma"), Bachelor's ("Bachlor's") and Advanced ("Advansed").
Well, it all depends on what you do. I once had a job recruiter tell me (in the poor economy), that when the resumes come in, there is the pile with “graduated State U”....and then there is the pile with “attended State U”.....
Guess which pile didn’t go in the trash?
Certainly, every case is different.
Amen. Glad someone else shares my opinion. Maybe college is headed in that direction, anyway, with "certificate programs" offered at so many community colleges.
Wait and see here too. We’ll for sure do the community college thing. I think she’ll go to the Christian college for certain credits and do some campus things like sports and year book. She’s been homeschooled so long and is looking forward to doing some “real school”. LOL
Sounds like she and Lizzie are so much alike. She loves Theology too.
Love it, love it. I have two college over-educated older kids (38 & 40), between the two about four degrees and then some “minors”, but the third kid is the stand-up man, Eagle Scout, 10yrs Infantry, combat veteran of two long deployments, uses his hands, can do with very little, keeps on keeping on. Meanwhile the older two whine and moan about minor bumps in the road that don’t amount to a hill of beans and have to “discuss” every stupid point. But the youngest says very little, justs gets going and gets-r-done.
Guess which one I want around and depend on when the chips are down?? Besides, he knows his weapons...
Im making a good living using my degree. But then again I studies Science, which is both real and useful. Many things studied at University these days are neither.
“It’s virtually impossible to become competent in technical disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, and medicine without rigorous university training.”
Is that why we’re facing a shortage of the sciences and engineering? Because rigorous university training is so difficult to find?
Agree. The “college experience” is the biggest myth perpetuated on American parents to date. I attended college in the 70”s, but commuted from home. Today, commuting to college is a sure sign of “loser”. The party scene is the main attraction for roughly 80% of students. Just look at the binge drinking by both men and women as an example. It’s out of control for most, and evidence of this is the fact that colleges and universities today are the strongest advocates in favor of lowering the drinking age. Why? Not because they want to be fair to the students who may be going off to war, or buying a home. No, it’s simply because they cannot control or enforce their own drinking policies. They know it, and want to wash their hands of being responsible. They also know that if they did enforce the drinking policy, they would have no students. Call me nuts, but I have three in college right now, and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise. That, combined with the loony leftist professors who abound, is enough proof for me. Our colleges and universities are not as interested in educating as they are in being money making businesses.
I think you are right as well.
He starts with the premise that being well rounded and generally educated is a good and desireable thing, then said F’it, just teach the dumb bastards a trade.
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 assume it wasn't one of the Concordias, but an ELCA school. Unfortunately, I have heard about other kids who did not get much of a Christian education at one of those.
“If he made less or we had about 6 more kids, we would be much better off. :)”
Those will be good strategies when socialism in this country really takes hold.
I’m not sure what State you are in Dawn, but if it is Ga, the State certainly got college funding done right because they use ALL the Lottery money they collect and put it into education...Florida had a similar mision statement for their Lottery but the fools in Tallahassee let the Lottery money be divied up so now only a fraction goes to Education..If they had stuck to 100% of funding for all college students, this would make for a much better College Tuition situation- namely free college for all college students...Seems like it would work in all States, especially those where Lottery sales are high...
As it is the tuitions at our State schools are fairly low compared to national averages, but still high enough to shut out some bright and deserving students...Hopefully one day this will be reformed by a good governor, but in this day of financial crisis who knows when that would happen...
It is simply impossible to engage in most any discipline such as........without a book full of green stamps. Have Mom and Dad pay up or borrow and stiff the taxpayer. But you must get a party card, check your head at the door, stfu and sit there until you are told to go.
Must read for parents. . . reinforces what we already know but some don’t want to admit.
North Carolina also has a similar Dual Enrollment program, so many kids are graduating from high school with their AA.
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