Education simply for the sake of
education is a luxury that few people can afford and those that can gain
extremely small benefit from it. Our high school kids today are primed by
educators, administrators, and advisers to head off to college post haste in
pursuit of the progressive Holy Grail…a college degree. The problem is that they are wholly
unprepared to make an intelligent decision about what kind of degree they want,
where they want to go to get it, what subject matter that degree should
involve, how they might finance this intellectual pursuit, and most important
of all…will the degree actually lead to a
job that will feasibly offer a salary sufficient to repay the cost of the
education required to get the job.
There
are four types of post secondary degrees: associate (2-year), bachelor’s (4-year),
master’s, and doctoral. On average,
students take 3.3 years to obtain an associate degree and 5.1 years to obtain a
bachelor’s degree. The average debt for
bachelor degree graduates at public colleges is $27,700 and ranges up to
$41,000 for private schools. The average
length of time taken by graduates to pay off their student loans is in excess
of 20 years. The elephant in the living
room is begging the question: Is a
college degree a wise investment for a high school graduate?
The
answer is not the same for all people.
The advent of the cyber age has created an astronomical number of niche
opportunities for smart, ambitious, and hard-working young adults to make very
good money in the American economy. We
need teachers, doctors, and lawyers. But
we also need electricians, plumbers, and carpenters. There is honor in all professions and the
plain and simple fact is that every high
school graduate is not cut out for college.
And even if they are and they choose to pursue that goal; it is not
required that you borrow all the money
you need to enjoy the status of professional full-time college student. There are plenty of part-time jobs out there
for college students; there is no need to carry a maximum load every semester;
there is a marvelous network of affordable junior colleges across America; and
of course, you can always work full-time for a period in order to save money
for a future college education. There is
also the incredible opportunity presented by U.S. Military services for
in-service college and post-service college support.
The
average American bachelor degree holder lives to be about 79 years old. They will spend the first 43 years of that
life saddled with a suffocating student loan that will diminish their economic
opportunities. Education is a wonderful
thing and each and every person in
our nation should have the opportunity to pursue it to the extent they desire. But each
and every person in our nation does not have a right to go straight out of high school to college without a career
plan that maps out what they want to do for a living, how they can accomplish
it, and whether or not it makes financial sense in the long run.
Our
education intelligentsia needs to adjust their agenda in a direction that encompasses
the full range of post secondary education from vocational to doctoral
degree. They need to let our children
know that life is short in the best of terms, is guaranteed to no one, and
should be spent doing something you can enjoy and gain a good quality of life
doing. This collegial conspiracy by post secondary professionals is a bubble
that is growing larger and more dangerous by the year. When it finally does burst, a lot of good
people will be badly damaged; but our nation’s post secondary educational
concepts will then undergo serious analysis that is long overdue.
No
matter what your personal opinion might be on the subject, it is undeniable
that a constitutional right to abortion was created out of whole cloth. Read the document; it does not exist. A similar
effort is taking place with a college education. The liberal move to provide free college for
all is nothing but a pretext to establishing it as a fundamental right. If this effort is successful, the academic
community would then be empowered in a permanent sense to perpetuate and expand
their overt influence over the young adults of our country.
A
college degree is a worthy goal. It can
be a life-changing process in a very positive fashion. But like things of real value; it should be earned through hard work and
sacrifice. A college campus should not
be the mandatory next step following high school graduation. It should not be a preferred life style. It should be a serious place where learning
is cherished and respected as a process of self-improvement. It can be a wonderful opportunity for
students to expand their visions and pursue noble ideals. It can also be an environment of leisure,
partying, and a colossal waste of time and money.
Read
about how our elected leaders are overly influenced by college administrators
and educators, who are fattening themselves on the future indebtedness of those
they claim to serve: https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-other-student-debt-jubilee/
.
Read
about how many of our institutions of higher learning are simply bastions of
liberal group think that strive to perpetuate their own ideals of a perfect
world and social order: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/02/trump-doj-weighs-in-against-harvards-discrimination.php
.
And
finally, in addition to the outrageous escalation of both college administrator
and teacher salaries, read about some of the things that have made a college
education one of the most over-priced items in the U.S.A.: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/an-often-overlooked-component-of-the-high-cost-of-college/
.
Don’t
miss the next post!
Follow on Twitter @
centerlineright or Just Google centerlineright.
I have often railed against the
recent Department of Justice (DOJ)
corruption that was hatched during the Obama administrations and then bled over
into the Trump administration. And even though they are the most recent and perhaps
the most egregious perpetrators, the Democrats certainly do not hold an
exclusive license to this unholy pursuit.
The Republicans have in years past been more than willing and able to
use the power of the government to pursue their
political agendas.
In
December of 2019, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a scathing
report on FBI activities relating to their Crossfire Hurricane episode
involving Carter Page; it is here: https://www.scribd.com/document/439020741/Office-of-the-Inspector-General-Review-of-Four-FISA-Applications-and-Other-Aspects-of-the-FBI-s-Crossfire-Hurricane-Investigation#from_embed
. The findings were so significant that Horowitz promised to take a wider look at other
FBI activities to see if these questionable practices were common throughout
the Agency. That subsequent report was
released in March and here it is: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2020/a20047.pdf
. The
level of corruption in the FBI and the FISA Court is breath-taking.
Here
is some professional analysis of exactly what is going on in this critical
Department and Agency of our government.
Any thoughtful American, regardless of their political standing or
ideology, should be outraged by this
level of ethical lapse and abuse of power.
And
finally, here is a good idea of exactly how this type of problem might be
addressed: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/fbi-inspector-general-report-fisa-reform-needed/
.
As the coronavirus pandemic
continues its seismic trek across all aspects of humankind, the only certainty
that is apparent is uncertainty. When we all get through this thing, a look
backwards will be striking in its clarity,
its condemnation of those who chose
personal agendas rather than public service, and a greater appreciation for many people who stepped up to the plate
when the game was on the line. As
intriguing as the global reaction to this pandemic has been; it will
undoubtedly pale in comparison to the chapter that will unfold after we get through this world health
crisis. There will be dramatic changes to our world and the way we all live our
lives in the future.
Regarding
the performance of the media, here is a thought-provoking mental exercise for
your consideration: https://theaspenbeat.com/2020/03/29/what-if-obama-were-president-now/
.
Speaking
of looking backwards when this thing is over with, there can be little doubt
that China is not going to come out
of this with any accolades: https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/chinas-devastating-lies/
.
At
some point…mid-April, end-of-April, next
month???...we will incrementally begin to reopen our nation for
business. What exactly will that
entail? Perhaps something like this: https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/National-Coronavirus-Response-a-Road-Map-to-Recovering.pdf
.
The
quarantine status down home on my small farm is progressing in a fairly
uneventful fashion. There are far fewer
trips to Walmart, restaurants, and nearby shopping centers. But the livestock are fed, the garden is in
the ground, the sun comes up in the east, and it sets in the west every
day. It is truly bizarre that we hear
daily of the death toll taken by this pandemic and yet, right below the
surface, the essential elements of life continue and the world moves on. In my past career with government
agricultural policy, it was often the case that even though a natural disaster
might not be sufficiently widespread to merit national legislation from
Congress; it was no less a devastating event if it happened to you.
For
many people, the mitigating actions taken by governments and society against
the pandemic are troublesome inconveniences…some more serious than others; but
they fall short of life-altering events.
On the other hand, if you lose your business or your job or a life that
is dear and precious, that is indeed
life-altering. Uncertain times call for
uncertain measures and no single leadership person or governmental entity has a
claim to having all the answers to the questions posed by Covid-19. Our world
has been rocked by this virulent and mystifying virus that has seemingly come
out nowhere to upset our routines, our welfare, and the very order of things
that we held to be so certain. We are
clearly not as much in control of things as we thought, not as invulnerable as
we had hoped, and not nearly as smart as we thought we were. Sometimes, humility is a hard medicine to
swallow.
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