Looks like the next deficit reduction go-round will include further cuts to student loans. In the context of this article, such a decision won’t be good news for college students. Most of the students I work with plan on seeking bachelor’s degrees after completing the associates. After leaving with degrees or quicker tranfer they will, of course, have to pay more than what they’ve become used to paying. What does a tuition crisis mean for students and their families and the intellectual health of a country? Doom in the clouds. But what to do? What is the economic dynamic of access to knowledge and knowledge creation?
I’ve seen lots of people squander their time at the college. Another form of waste. They pay for something they don’t really want. These students could do lots of good with their time. But is doing good reserved only for classroom work and furture study? Of course not.
What will happen if the idea behind a college-bound future becomes less important or less affordable. I see this as similar to the health care question, where relatively common hospital procedures are pretty much out of everyone’s price range. Will people simply stop seeking out care?
I know both scenarios all too well. So the future would appear to be comprised of uneducated youth and the sick and dying elderly along with a mass of those in between who will need to be Walmart greeters and pill-cutters. Ain’t America grand?
On the other hand, in a perverse way it makes good economic sense. Why waste money on educating so many when they all won’t be able to find jobs in the U.S. anyway? And cutting Medicaid may help salvage the Social Security debacle in also cutting down the number of people applying based on those who won’t survive without meds.
A lot of people simply go to college because it has become a cultural habit not a true necessity or urge for them (and this makes my work more difficult. It turns me into a teacher I don’t want to be: mean, impatient, and frustrated). I suggest that if a person sees college as a means to an end, then college works. If alternative routes are called for then people should learn to seek them out. In health care, people could do the same: seek their own care.
Of course, I have indeed seen those that fail to bring in assignments on time, or even at all; who strive for a passing C grade only (funny, here they know the math exactly to figure if they have to take the final or not). So you do have overcrowded classrooms that could easily be weeded out by desire and intent and thus make the monies available at least productive. But on health care? Would you suggest (other than diet and exercise) that someone either manage to pay three hundred dollars for a month’s supply of necessary (stress on necessary–another whole sticket wicket) meds or mix something herbally together in their kitchen?
Sure, why not? Teach thyself, heal thyself. Or die. Or go bankrupt.