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I cringe when I hear about plans for "tuition-free" 4-year college. I went to a fancy private high school, with a bunch of kids who graduated and went to fancy

I cringe when I hear about plans for "tuition-free" 4-year college. I went to a fancy private high school, with a bunch of kids who graduated and went to fancy private universities. From what I can tell, it's done very little for them. The people who aren't working in tech or finance are literally on food stamps, extending their time in college, doing something like Teach for America, or working retail jobs. With 4-year degrees. As if that weren't agitating enough, universities seem to relish their role in "not providing job training" and being "not a vocational school" and "producing well-rounded students". The government shouldn't be footing the bill to send people to these schools (through subsidized loans or other mechanisms), which for most students are glorified daycare centers for young adults who don't want to join the workforce yet. It's a huge waste of money, as the current levels of student loan debt attests to. I don't know all the details here but an apprenticeship program seems like a step in the right direction. The federal government should forgive student loans (lay the cost on the universities)

zanny 9y ago
Problem is the university lobby is now massive. Tons of free money, using the only non-dischargable debt there is. The flaws in education are the flaws in politics at large - too much corruption that is too detached from the suffering of the commons. All major structural social issues trace back to a broken incentives structure and an absence of transparency and accountability at all levels that produce policy. Of course, that means changing the framework of that decision making, which is constitutional. And the established structure is wholly intentional, it is not just some mistake the people just need to "wake up and realize is wrong, and then we can all fix it". There are antagonists who prosper under the establishment, who now wield controlling influence in all spheres. The question for humanity in the 21st century looks to be how to fix that kind of structural misalignment of incentives towards the will of power.

zanny 9y ago

Problem is the university lobby is now massive. Tons of free money, using the only non-dischargable debt there is. The flaws in education are the flaws in politics at large - too much corruption that is too detached from the suffering of the commons. All major structural social issues trace back to a broken incentives structure and an absence of transparency and accountability at all levels that produce policy. Of course, that means changing the framework of that decision making, which is constitutional. And the established structure is wholly intentional, it is not just some mistake the people just need to "wake up and realize is wrong, and then we can all fix it". There are antagonists who prosper under the establishment, who now wield controlling influence in all spheres. The question for humanity in the 21st century looks to be how to fix that kind of structural misalignment of incentives towards the will of power.