The First Myth of College

[DamianTV]

http://rense.com/general96/myth.html

...

When educators controlled education, policies were enacted so that people didn’t waste years of their lives and destroy themselves with overwhelming debt. Those policies have been changed so that not only can people hurt themselves this way, but are encouraged to do so. These changes didn’t come from long disenfranchised faculty.

...

Just a short excerpt from the full work on the link.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Very accurate piece. ETA: when I started college many moons ago, I thought it was this really serious place where vigorous educatin' and learnin' takes place. My cousin had gotten a full-ride scholarship a few years earlier, and I was impress. 'tain't so. IMHO, it was basically an extension of high school with more attractive female students to ogle.

The good thing about it was that I got to learn more advanced stuff in my major's core classes which I still use all the time.

 

[Anti Federalist]

It’s little different than all the smiling customers P.T. Barnum fooled when he put up a beautiful sign, “This way to the Great Egress!” Ignorant of what an egress was, his customers cheerfully followed the sign to see the great thing. After exiting the circus, they were in no position to do anything about being tricked. If they really wanted to complain, they’d have to pay an entrance fee to get back in the tent. A few did so, to Barnum’s delight.

Students likewise are completely helpless, years later, when the loans start coming due and there is no way to escape the loans. A few students, unable to pay their loans, take out more loans to go back to college. “There’s a sucker born every minute,” to steal another line from Barnum, and this myth is the first to creating many of the suckers in the higher education system.

The American public believes getting into college is a special privilege, and thus thinks nothing of taking on suicidal debt for a “special privilege” that is, in fact, open to everyone.

And that’s also why a person with an IQ of 80 can be a college graduate now.

 

[Acala]

My usual mantra is that government destroys everything it touches. I think the same can be said of banks. College got hit with both.

 

[BAllen]

Buyer beware.
The problem is low information consumers and low information voters. If people bothered to do a little research before making decisions, we'd all be better off.
Loans have driven up the price of education to the point where someone who does not want a loan cannot afford it.

Another trick Barnum used was to post the exit sign in Russian. They thought it was another exhibit, and had to pay to get back in.

 

[DamianTV]

My usual mantra is that government destroys everything it touches. I think the same can be said of banks. College got hit with both.

And the Student Loan Bubble is now bigger than the Housing Bubble? Thats scary. Uh oh, I think the Govt touched the whole US!

 

[BAllen]

And the Student Loan Bubble is now bigger than the Housing Bubble? Thats scary. Uh oh, I think the Govt touched the whole US!

The parasites have run out of hosts.

 

[Acala]

I suppose what will happen is that there will be a rather sudden and massive default on student loans. It might even be a concerted act at some point. Students and recent grads are pretty well wired up and if defaults reach a point of obvious collapse, they might stage a flash default. The government will bail out the banks, of course, but the cost will be so high that the public will demand the loans be curtailed. That will send the colleges into a tailspin.

 

[TruckinMike]

It’s little different than all the smiling customers P.T. Barnum fooled when he put up a beautiful sign, “This way to the Great Egress!” Ignorant of what an egress was, his customers cheerfully followed the sign to see the great thing. After exiting the circus, they were in no position to do anything about being tricked. If they really wanted to complain, they’d have to pay an entrance fee to get back in the tent. A few did so, to Barnum’s delight.

Students likewise are completely helpless, years later, when the loans start coming due and there is no way to escape the loans. A few students, unable to pay their loans, take out more loans to go back to college. “There’s a sucker born every minute,” to steal another line from Barnum, and this myth is the first to creating many of the suckers in the higher education system.

The American public believes getting into college is a special privilege, and thus thinks nothing of taking on suicidal debt for a “special privilege” that is, in fact, open to everyone.

And that’s also why a person with an IQ of 80 can be a college graduate now.

FYI -- A friend of a friend of mine went to University of Texas medical school in Houston for their internship. While there she claims that there was a student that was having a hard time, so much so that they were on the verge of being booted out of the program. As the story goes, an interested party mandated an IQ exam for the student in question. And to the amazement and horror of the staff this student had some how managed to make it all the way through pre-med and the 4 year med program with a sub 80 IQ.

...It turns out that the student had an exceptional memory.

I have no direct evidence that this is true. The way I see it there is no reason for a fellow student to make such a claim unless they want to denigrate their own school.

TMike

PS- I tend to believe the story -- after all an ex-girlfriend of mine did get her MD from there. (bah-dum-teeessssh)

 

[Dublin4Paul]

FYI -- A friend of a friend of mine went to University of Texas medical school in Houston for their internship. While there she claims that there was a student that was having a hard time, so much so that they were on the verge of being booted out of the program. As the story goes, an interested party mandated an IQ exam for the student in question. And to the amazement and horror of the staff this student had some how managed to make it all the way through pre-med and the 4 year med program with a sub 80 IQ.

...It turns out that the student had an exceptional memory.

I have no direct evidence that this is true. The way I see it there is no reason for a fellow student to make such a claim unless they want to denigrate their own school.

TMike

PS- I tend to believe the story -- after all an ex-girlfriend of mine did get her MD from there. (bah-dum-teeessssh)

I'm absolutely willing to believe the story. As a college grad, I can say that all that's required to get a good grade is to regurgitate what the professor tells you. Try to think outside the box, or think critically, and you will be made to regret it. It reminds me of the old Japanese proverb: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered."

 

[ronpaulfollower999]

I'm absolutely willing to believe the story. As a college grad, I can say that all that's required to get a good grade is to regurgitate what the professor tells you. Try to think outside the box, or think critically, and you will be made to regret it. It reminds me of the old Japanese proverb: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered."

The worst are classes where all the tests are open book. At least it makes spending $100 for the book worth it.

 

[Bruno]

I went to ISU, to find out they "didn't accept" my previous junior college transcripts of my composition class credits, so I have to spend an entire semester reading Don Quixiote and writing 10 papers on it. One entire class and its costs just for that book and to "prove I could read and write English".

My 3rd year College German course that year also was a joke. I wasn't allow to CLEP test out of it, and instead had to spend a semester learning what I already knew. To top that off, our 3rd year college German grammar book was the comic book Hagar the Horrible. You can't make this stuff up.

It's all about the Benjamins.

 

[donnay]

I know people who have more degrees than a thermometer who are currently out of work or work at jobs that is not what they went to school for, just so they can be responsible and pay the mortgage over their heads.

College is such a scam.

 

[The Northbreather]

But this woman says that every kid has the right to go to college........lol.

This video is worth watching, I think she sets a record for stupid ideas in a short interview. This is what we're up against right here folks.

 

[Ender]

Degrees were invented for those who couldn't do the do- they didn't have the skills but they had the paper.

Pretty much the way it is today.

The amateur used to be the real professional and the truly skilled.

 

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

when I went to college I had to fill out forms NOT to take out a student loan. For some reason I kept getting signed up for them without my permission.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

It’s little different than all the smiling customers P.T. Barnum fooled when he put up a beautiful sign, “This way to the Great Egress!” Ignorant of what an egress was, his customers cheerfully followed the sign to see the great thing. After exiting the circus, they were in no position to do anything about being tricked. If they really wanted to complain, they’d have to pay an entrance fee to get back in the tent. A few did so, to Barnum’s delight.

Students likewise are completely helpless, years later, when the loans start coming due and there is no way to escape the loans. A few students, unable to pay their loans, take out more loans to go back to college. “There’s a sucker born every minute,” to steal another line from Barnum, and this myth is the first to creating many of the suckers in the higher education system.

The American public believes getting into college is a special privilege, and thus thinks nothing of taking on suicidal debt for a “special privilege” that is, in fact, open to everyone.

And that’s also why a person with an IQ of 80 can be a college graduate now.

~10 years ago, I heard a really fascinating interview on Charles Goyette's show. It was with a fellow (IDR his name) who had graduated college and grad school with honors-all while being completely illiterate. At the time it was really surprising to me, but then I learned more about the "education" system, and it makes more sense to me now. I would not be surprised if the majority of college grads in a decade or so are unable to read their diplomas.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Degrees were invented for those who couldn't do the do- they didn't have the skills but they had the paper.

Pretty much the way it is today.

The amateur used to be the real professional and the truly skilled.

In ancient Greece, higher education was invented for the Political Class. Gary North wrote a quite good piece about this some years ago, but I can't find it now.