The looming threat of not being able to get a college degree is scary for these young people. I can understand why. We have become a society where credentials outweigh real world knowledge through hands on experience and practical training of how to do something. The real world knowledge comes later if at all. Today businesses are reluctant to administer pre-employment tests to potential hirees on the skills that they actually need to do a job. There have been too many lawsuits brought by various "victim industry" groups. So what else is new? The few exceptions to the rule are medical boards for doctors, bar exams for lawyers, exams for real estate agents and brokers, and CPA exams for public accountants. The trades have their own exams for tradesmen working their way up from apprentice to journeyman to master, but that's a different story. It's ok, because those trades are heavily unionized. Because of the lawsuits against practical knowledge of subject exams for people applying for a lot of white collar jobs, businesses use a Bachelors Degree as a screening tool to weed out applicants for positions that really don't require a college degree in the first place. It's a way of maintaining and perpetuating a caste system in a country where there isn't supposed to be a caste system. It's the caste system of the Bobos, and the hierarchy based on what degree you have; Bachelors, Masters or Doctorate. If you are going to wear a tie to work, you have to have a college degree even if the degree is in the proverbial subject, "Underwater Basket Weaving." If you don't, you are going to have to get your hands dirty and be part of the unwashed masses that the Elite Bobo Liberals despise. Ironically, many of those "get your hands dirty" trades jobs pay a lot more than some low level flunky white collar job. The Bobos despise that too. It goes against their sense of self-importance. In this new age of a society based on meritocratic hierarchy those with less education should never be the "haves."
The young people protesting are right about fairness. It's not fair. Life isn't fair. What they mean is that it isn't fair to them, and the hell with everyone else...free college for me, but I don't give a rat's ass about thee. These are the same young people that on a whole embrace the top down dictatorship of Socialism, because it's about "fairness." Did anyone say meritocratic hierarchy? "Why can't the evil United States be more like enlightened Europe?" I've got a great idea. Let's look at how this so called European style "fairness" will pan out. Let's look at access to higher education in other countries where the governments either provide for, or heavily subsidise the cost of a college education and see whether or not this is what these young people really want for this country. They could be in for a rude awakening. A large percentage of them wouldn't be able to attend college at all. They would move down a notch or two or three, in the meritocratic hierarchy food chain.
What the young people in this country don't quite comprehend is the fact that any time the government provides anything, there is rationing. You can't provide a quality product to everyone. That includes education. There is either rationing of the product or service itself, or rationing of the quality of the product or service, or both. The same thing will happen if the government decides to provide free college education to the masses.
Most countries that provide higher education to their citizens, have very strict requirements as far as who gets to benefit from the education entitlement. A college education is an earned benefit regulated by the state. There are very stringent exams that are taken in high school, and only the best and brightest (i.e. those that score highest on the exams) are allowed to attend college by law. If you don't "test well," tough shit. You lose. I guess they don't have to worry about Affirmative Action lawsuits.
Let's say the United States decided to go this route. Let's create a hypothetical situation: The government sets aside a certain number of dollars for funding of higher education each year. It's part of the federal budget that Congress drafts and approves, and the President signs into law. A real world scenario is that there is enough funding so that 10% of our high school graduates would be allowed to attend college at any given time. That's rationing. It's based on cost benefit analysis; those that score the highest on the exams are the most likely to finish college, so you limit the benefit to those most likely to succeed. If you are not part of that top 10% based on very difficult comprehensive examinations, you are not going to college. You are going to trade school at best, if it is determined by other exams that you are bright enough and mechanically adept enough, to learn a trade. If not, you are going into the workforce in some low paying menial job for the rest of your life. Most people in this country will become part of this mass cheap labor pool at the bottom of the social hierarchy—the serfs. Hey liberals, do you believe that in enlightened Europe there is no such thing as the working poor? If you do, you need to get your heads out of your asses. Social Engineering is built into their laws. If your parents have enough money, they can send you to college overseas, but if they don't, you are screwed. Is this what you want in this country? I know what the next question is: Won't private colleges be an option for those that can afford them? Partially. Most private colleges receive federal grant money for various research projects. In order for the government to enforce its social engineering plan, they could force the private colleges to only accept those that the government has determined are entitled to a college education under threat of witholding federal grant money whether or not private grant money and/or endowments are being used for financial aid.
Fortunately, we are still a free society and higher education is not rationed by the government. If you can get accepted into college and can find the way to fund it, you can attend. Graduation is a different matter. Today in the United States, aproximately 40% of our high school graduates go on to college. However, about 40% of college attendees never graduate for a variety of reasons. A small percentage of that 40% run out of money. It's not fair, but that's the way things are sometimes. Many of those in that predicament never explore various financial aid programs offered through the college or university financial aid office. Some get offered a once in a lifetime career opportunity that "they can't refuse." Some decide that college is not for them, and they chose a different career path. Some just can't handle the course work when you get into the higher level courses. For those for whom cost becomes a barrier, however, there are ways to get money.
Currently, there are ways to reduce the cost of a college education, but most of the spoiled youth wouldn't be caught dead exploring some of the options. Yes there are scholarships, but you are going to have to study your ass off in high school, get involved in community or church projects, and be the ultimate model citizen. 99% won't even be considered for a full scholarship. There are partial scholarships too, but you are going to still have to be exceptional for consideration. Another thing you can do is get the first two years out of the way at a community college and live home with your parents. That will save a lot of money. Oops, that means that you won't be able to spend every night getting drunk and getting laid in the dorms. There are even more vile options—vile for the lefties and hippies that is. There are heaven forbid, ROTC scholarships. The trade off is you have to look GI and wear a uniform to classes on certain days of the week. You also have to spend some time after graduation as a commissioned officer in one of the military reserves being a weekend warrior one weekend a month and serving two weeks active duty during the summer. You are required to do this for a given number of years until you accumulate enough points to meet your obligation. Yes kiddies, that means you have to give something for something. You want something for nothing.
You can even go one step further and actually join the active duty military. Have you ever heard of the Tuition Assistance Program? I used it when I was in the Air Force to pay for college classes. Depending on the education budget for the year, the services will pay anywhere from 75% to 100% of your college tuition costs as long as you receive at least a C in the course. Here's another option. Currently, the Army has a program where they will pay off your student loans if you join up. The other branches are considering similar proposals at this time too. Think about it. You come out of college with a nice big fat student loan debt, and the Army will make it go away. Plus, you have a degree, so you can sign up as a commissioned officer rather than an enlisted person. You get to be junior executive management right out of the shoot. For this, you owe them something like five years commissioned service followed by several years in the inactive reserves. Inactive reserve means you can be recalled back to active duty in the event of a national emergency or during time of war. If you go the enlisted route, you do four years active duty and then eight years in the inactive reserves. I'm sure that another thing you brainwashed brats probably don't know is that only 10% of the jobs in the military are combat related. The rest are support positions ranging from mechanics, to photographers, to graphic artists, to musicians, to lawyers, to doctors, to computer programmers and software engineers, and even to physical trainers in the base gyms. What's the down side? You have to wear a uniform, cut your hair, and...and...and...drumroll please...you are subject to random drug testing and you have to submit to authority! Yes I know, you all have a "problem with authority." That, and the military is a top down dictatorship. Wait a minute. Isn't Socialism? You would get along just fine once you realized that you were not going to be the ones in charge for several years. You would have to start as a peon just like everyone else...it breaks my cold conservative heart just thinking about it.
There is also the option of working your way through college. I know several people that took years to finish a degree that way. They would work for a couple of years and save their money. Then they would take courses part-time while they continued to work. Then they would work for a couple of years saving their money, and repeat the cycle. One of my old family doctors worked his way through medical school that way. He financed his college and medical school educations by working in the coal mines of western Pennsylvania. If you want it bad enough, you'll find a way to do it.
John Ellis, who is the President of the the California Association of Scholars and is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz has an article in the online publication mindingthecampus.com where he explores the reasons for the huge cost increase in higher education. You can not have affordable public higher education unless you have a strong business community that is paying for it through tax revenues. If you make the climate for businesses oppressive, like California has done, businesses "vote with their feet." They leave. Once they leave, they don't pay taxes to the state.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
"Unemployment in California is still rising. It just went up from 12.3 to 12.5%, nearly three points above an already bad national average. This horrendous figure is the source of California's budget problem. The huge loss of tax revenue is compounded by greatly increased unemployment outlays. If we look at the few other states that have unemployment figures well above the national average, there are obvious explanations. Michigan is at 14.6 because employment in its major industry (automobiles) has collapsed. Nevada, at 13.0, is dependent on discretionary cash at a time when there isn't any. But California is too big to be dominated by one industry, and its plight can only be explained by the state's having grossly mismanaged its affairs.
In 2007 Raymond Keating formulated a Small Business Survival Index, which is a composite of various aspects of the climate for business in a particular state: business and personal taxes, regulations, mandates, and so on. In that index California ranked 49 among the 50 states. Rhode Island ranked just above California, and its unemployment rate is 12.7. At the bottom of the Index is D.C., and its unemployment rate is 12.1.
In the component parts of the SBSI index, California ranks worst of 51 (including D.C.) on top personal tax rates, worst on top capital gains tax rates, 42 on corporate taxes, 43 on health insurance mandates, 46 on electric utility costs, 47 on workman's compensation costs, rock bottom again on state gas taxes, 45 on state and local government five year spending trends, and 47 on state and local per capita government spending. It also ranks 49 among the states on the US Economic freedom index, and it has the highest state sales tax rate too: where some states have an income tax but no sales tax, and others have a sales tax but no income tax, California has both, AND it has the highest rates in both.
In short, California is a disaster for business. The state has piled up so many taxes, regulations and mandates that businesses are leaving the state. Just this week I learned that a spare part order for my Lennox fireplace is delayed because Lennox is moving this division of its business to Tennessee. Wealthy individuals are also fleeing the state to avoid the country's highest tax bracket. When both wealth and wealth creation leave the state, tax revenues leave with them.
How has this happened? As everyone knows by now, California has a dysfunctional legislature. Already in 2003---well before the current national crisis, and when the national unemployment rate was only 5.9%---California was bankrupt, and spending was so out of control that a Governor was recalled. The legislature enacts every politically correct whim that comes into its head, loading on one mandate and regulation after another. Cap and Trade could not pass nationally, but the California legislature proudly passed its job-killing global warming bill.
That is why the state now has a budget crisis of staggering proportions, and why university students are seeing those large fee hikes. But why is the California legislature so irresponsible, not to say goofy? Well, California is extremely rich in state university campuses: the UC and CSUC systems alone amount to 33 campuses, about a third of them mega-campuses of 30-35 thousand students, with another 10 around 20,000. The mega-campuses completely dominate the Assembly districts they are in, and their large concentrations of students and faculty skew the district electorate not just to the left, but to the devoutly politically correct but hopelessly unrealistic left. Virtually all of them routinely send Democrats to Sacramento. College towns with more modest sized campuses play their part too, but mega-campuses make their districts so one-sided that in the last election UC Berkeley's Assembly seat had no election even though it was vacant: the Democratic nominee still ran unopposed. Where there is real competition between the parties the two sides keep each other honest and realistic, but when Assembly seats are so inevitably left that there is no contest, there is nothing to stop the side that has automatic electability from sliding into fantasy. Those districts provide the margin that allows an immature leftism that has lost contact with reality to control the state legislature and ruin the business climate of the state."
Hey Hippies, it's your beloved Liberals, Progressives, Marxists and Communists that are advancing the Socialism that is killing your chance of getting a college education. You are the perfect "Useful Idiots." Grow up, get a life and get your heads out of your asses. Stop supporting the people and the policies that are going to make your lives harder while advancing more power to the controlling elite class of Liberals that have taken over American society. You are suffering the effects, like the rest of us, of the slow march through the culture that was implemented by the International Communist movement over the past 100 years. The problem is, you are too brainwashed to see it. Wake up idiots. Yes I know, it's all George Bush's fault. Go back to your classes that have the word "studies" attached to their title.
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