The Cost of Education:
Myth: America is a place where anyone can become anything he or she might want to be.
Fact: America is a place where anyone with the price of a lottery ticket might become rich, but the odds are better in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Since the end of World War II, the ticket to success came stamped with "education" written across it. The GI Bill offered millions of young people a way out of the cotton fields, factories and mills, and the chance to become professionals or at least low level managers in the places where their fathers had toiled in manual labor.
As late as the early 1970s, the price of education was primarily the loss of wages one might have earned in the work place during the years one spent in the classroom. And then the colleges and universities discovered they had a money making machine. Banks and other lending institutions were quick to jump on the bandwagon.
"Last year," according to The New York Times, "students and their parents borrowed nearly $60 billion in federally guaranteed loans, a figure that has grown more than 6 percent annually over the last five years after taking into account inflation." In other words, the cost of higher education is far outstripping the rise in inflation.
College presidents are quick to point out that the rising cost of education is fueled by the increasing cost of medical insurance for faculty and staff and the need to compete for students by turning college campuses into "club meds."
Once upon a time, a college education included a Spartan lifestyle, a sacrifice made for knowledge, but today's college campuses more closely resemble resorts than centers of learning. In the good old days, the library was the center of campus life, now more often than not the football stadium and the sports bar form the heart of the campus experience.
In the past, students lived in attic rooms, warding of pneumonia; today they live in rooms that more closely resemble good hotel rooms with all the amenities, and their biggest health concern is STDs.
On a side note: One of the interesting things about stories like today's Times' story is that an example is always provided of a parent with a modest income who wants desperately to send his or her child to a private college, rather than a community college or state university. I am always somewhat befuddled by parents and students who seem to believe that all doors be opened to them simply because they exist. Personally, I'd love to win the lottery, but I realize that as long as I refuse to buy a ticket my chances are even more remote than extreme.
If neither you nor your kid is smart enough to figure this out, just how well do you think your kid is going to do in school? It's bad enough to graduate from college owing $31,000; imagine leaving school early with no diploma in hand and still owing the money.
Peace in the Middle-East:
According to Bush administration officials, the leading threat to Iraq is Iran. The real problem, however, is that in the six thousand years of recorded history the only times that the Middle-East has ever known peace has been when some power, whether external (i.e. Rome) or internal (i.e. Turkey), dominated the region. Even then peace was relative and short term. Peace, regardless of its appeal, has been seldom achieved anywhere in the world and usually at the cost of considerable personal and political freedom.
There should be little doubt that forces exist within Iran that choose to exploit the situation in Iraq. But what isn't clear is whether those forces come directly from the Iranian government and whether the Iranian desire to exploit the situation isn't in fact being exploited by forces within Iraq. In other words, are the Iranians pushing guns and ammunition onto Iraqis who would rather lead peaceful and quiet lives, or are the Iraqis seeking guns and ammunition from whatever supplier they can and the Iranians are simply willing sellers?
Without an understanding of the dynamics that exist within the region, we are left with one conclusion: only a police state can insure peace. This was the conclusion in the 1950s when Saddams' party was placed in power with the assistance of the U. S. Why should we believe the current situation is any different?
What George said four years ago: "They could still be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas on a turkey farm." — George W. Bush, Washinton, D. C., April 2004, speaking about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Obama Speaks Truth and Clinton Attacks:
Sen. Obama, perhaps speaking unwisely if he hopes to garner votes, spoke the truth about small town America recently, citing small minded people's love of guns and a superstitious relationship with religion, in addition to fear of "the other." The press, playing gotcha, ran with it, and Sen. Clinton saw an opening, hoping to open the gap at the poles between her and Obama's numbers.
This is just another example of the risks in running for political office. If you are going to run and speak the truth, you have got to be extremely careful. Of course if Obama had spoken the full truth, he would have included cities and suburbs in his analysis as well. America is filled with small minded, even closed minded folks, who cling to their guns and their Bibles and fear whatever is different or new. That's just the nature of the beast, and it's hardly unique to America.
Myth: America is a place where anyone can become anything he or she might want to be.
Fact: America is a place where anyone with the price of a lottery ticket might become rich, but the odds are better in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Since the end of World War II, the ticket to success came stamped with "education" written across it. The GI Bill offered millions of young people a way out of the cotton fields, factories and mills, and the chance to become professionals or at least low level managers in the places where their fathers had toiled in manual labor.
As late as the early 1970s, the price of education was primarily the loss of wages one might have earned in the work place during the years one spent in the classroom. And then the colleges and universities discovered they had a money making machine. Banks and other lending institutions were quick to jump on the bandwagon.
"Last year," according to The New York Times, "students and their parents borrowed nearly $60 billion in federally guaranteed loans, a figure that has grown more than 6 percent annually over the last five years after taking into account inflation." In other words, the cost of higher education is far outstripping the rise in inflation.
College presidents are quick to point out that the rising cost of education is fueled by the increasing cost of medical insurance for faculty and staff and the need to compete for students by turning college campuses into "club meds."
Once upon a time, a college education included a Spartan lifestyle, a sacrifice made for knowledge, but today's college campuses more closely resemble resorts than centers of learning. In the good old days, the library was the center of campus life, now more often than not the football stadium and the sports bar form the heart of the campus experience.
In the past, students lived in attic rooms, warding of pneumonia; today they live in rooms that more closely resemble good hotel rooms with all the amenities, and their biggest health concern is STDs.
On a side note: One of the interesting things about stories like today's Times' story is that an example is always provided of a parent with a modest income who wants desperately to send his or her child to a private college, rather than a community college or state university. I am always somewhat befuddled by parents and students who seem to believe that all doors be opened to them simply because they exist. Personally, I'd love to win the lottery, but I realize that as long as I refuse to buy a ticket my chances are even more remote than extreme.
If neither you nor your kid is smart enough to figure this out, just how well do you think your kid is going to do in school? It's bad enough to graduate from college owing $31,000; imagine leaving school early with no diploma in hand and still owing the money.
Peace in the Middle-East:
According to Bush administration officials, the leading threat to Iraq is Iran. The real problem, however, is that in the six thousand years of recorded history the only times that the Middle-East has ever known peace has been when some power, whether external (i.e. Rome) or internal (i.e. Turkey), dominated the region. Even then peace was relative and short term. Peace, regardless of its appeal, has been seldom achieved anywhere in the world and usually at the cost of considerable personal and political freedom.
There should be little doubt that forces exist within Iran that choose to exploit the situation in Iraq. But what isn't clear is whether those forces come directly from the Iranian government and whether the Iranian desire to exploit the situation isn't in fact being exploited by forces within Iraq. In other words, are the Iranians pushing guns and ammunition onto Iraqis who would rather lead peaceful and quiet lives, or are the Iraqis seeking guns and ammunition from whatever supplier they can and the Iranians are simply willing sellers?
Without an understanding of the dynamics that exist within the region, we are left with one conclusion: only a police state can insure peace. This was the conclusion in the 1950s when Saddams' party was placed in power with the assistance of the U. S. Why should we believe the current situation is any different?
What George said four years ago: "They could still be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas on a turkey farm." — George W. Bush, Washinton, D. C., April 2004, speaking about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Obama Speaks Truth and Clinton Attacks:
Sen. Obama, perhaps speaking unwisely if he hopes to garner votes, spoke the truth about small town America recently, citing small minded people's love of guns and a superstitious relationship with religion, in addition to fear of "the other." The press, playing gotcha, ran with it, and Sen. Clinton saw an opening, hoping to open the gap at the poles between her and Obama's numbers.
This is just another example of the risks in running for political office. If you are going to run and speak the truth, you have got to be extremely careful. Of course if Obama had spoken the full truth, he would have included cities and suburbs in his analysis as well. America is filled with small minded, even closed minded folks, who cling to their guns and their Bibles and fear whatever is different or new. That's just the nature of the beast, and it's hardly unique to America.
posted by Jim | 12:30 PM
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