By Professor Doom
Jon Stossel is one
of the last few remaining investigative reporters, and used to be on television
quite often, 20 years ago. His big career-killing problem was he tends to
investigate government waste and corruption. It’s painfully obvious today that
much (all?) of our mainstream media is just another department of our
government, or at least the deep state, and thus has no interest in revealing
its own corruption. Stossel found himself off the government-controlled
airwaves because he was just too good at his job.
Thus he’s
consigned to “fringe” “alternative” media sites like Reason. He’s recently
released a video detailing a scam I write about often:
The video itself
is more evidence of how the world has changed in the last 20 years. We’re in a
post-literate society, which is just a fancy way of saying people don’t read
much anymore. If you want to disseminate knowledge today, you must use video.
I’ve considered doing some videos, but the whole “anonymity” thing might make
it tough, and I do lack the technical skill to make much beyond me talking.
Anyway, the video
is short—another sign of the times, as people just can’t focus for very long.
It’s one of the (many, admittedly) reasons the film industry is suffering so in
theatres, and people just can’t tear themselves away from their phones for a whole
hour and a half. Ok, nowadays a movie is usually an hour and a half of SJW
posturing against a backdrop of explosions (hi Last Jedi!), but still.
He says some
things in this short video (along with a summary transcript for us dinosaurs
who still read), and he misses a mark or two. I’ll cut him some slack because
he’s trying to cover this ground fast enough to reach people who are so addled
by today’s world they can’t think clearly for much past five minutes, but I’ll
make some clarifications all the same.
That's because most people
don't learn much in college. Studies find that a third of people haven't learned anythingdetectable after four years in
college.
"Taxpayers ought to know that they're getting ripped
off," Caplan tells Stossel.
For those who
don’t have time, the above is basically everything you need to know about
higher education in America today: for the vast majority, it’s a big waste of
time, and for anyone who pays taxes, it’s a big waste of money.
He says taxpayer money mostly helps more
people signal their ability to conform to college
expectations.
--emphasis
added.
While the above
is true, the clarification needed is a college degree used to be a valid signal the holder was exceptional
in some way. Today’s college degrees are mostly meaningless, since the average
GPA is close to A-, and many schools mandate that a certain percentage of
students pass every course…a degree is more of a rubber stamp of a person
having a pulse than any exceptionality. Toss in how most degrees are in
subjects of minimal, if any, job value and we’re back in rip-off territory
again.
Stossel merely discusses how giving
everyone a degree destroys the usefulness of the degree. While true,
he neglects to mention how the student loan scam is destroying the lives of
40,000,000 people and rising. I feel the latter detail is far
more important to humanity than the destruction of the value of a piece of
paper.
Caplan responds that if students wanted
to learn they can just walk on to a campus and attend class. Caplan says
professors are happy to let the student attend. But few students do that.
The above is an
odd thing to say. Yes, I don’t have a problem if someone wants to attend class,
but I’ve received many warnings from admin not to let unregistered students in
my classes. This is merely a minor detail, since the modern world really does
allow anyone to read and learn about anything without much effort or expense without
setting foot on campus (hi internet!).
Caplan does think college is great for a few people like
him—tenured professors. He can never be fired, gets paid well, and only has to
teach classes for five hours a week.
"That's a scam," Stossel responds, "we're paying so
much money for people like you to teach five hours."
"Yeah. Well, I'm a whistleblower," Caplan quips.
My blog has shown
time and again that “tenure” and “can never be fired” are far from synonymous,
and shame on Stossel for not being aware of that fact. That said, yes, “tenured
professor at a legitimate school” is a wonderful job to have…but there are very
few of those. Most college courses are taught by sub-minimum wage adjuncts, and
some schools are trying to get the
teaching done for free now, the better to yield money to the plunderers running
many of these places.
Moreover, the
professor being interviewed used the time granted by his cushy job to write a
book warning people away from college
and exposing what a scam so much of it is. Maybe he’ll save a few people from
destroying themselves in college. This highlights how professors got these
cushy jobs, or used to get them, anyway. The whole reason scholars are given so
much free time in their jobs is because writing books to help humanity is a
thing they do in their free time.
I’m just not
concerned with the few and dying faculty with cushy jobs, not when admin
outnumber faculty by a wide margin, are paid vastly more, and many have jobs
just as cushy. I’ve never, ever, seen an admin write a book trying to help
humanity, and I’ve seen quite a few actively hurt human beings in many ways.
All the free
money flowing onto campus has warped things, and since the profit margin on
“education” today is so large, colleges compete to get people willing to pay
for it. Before the student loan scam, this competition was done by getting the
best faculty, having the most successful programs, and earning a stellar
reputation. What do colleges do now?
“…many compete by advertising luxury…”
I know I’m
something of a one-note singer, but Stossel only scratches the surface of what
the student loan money has done to our campuses. Prospective students are now
promised lobster dinners for coming to campus, a campus often decorated with a
luxury resort-style pool and other recreational areas. 600 colleges now have
rock climbing walls—they do look interesting even if most people have the sense
not to use them. No matter, “looks” are what it’s all about now.
“…used to be reading, writing, and
arithmetic. Well now we’re the 4th ‘r,’ recreation.”
The above quote
from the video nicely sums up higher education after years of drowning in
student loan money. Please, please, just stop the student loan scam already.
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