3 ms·

Everyone in this thread forgot that free education was the norm and worked fine until someone didn't like the "wrong type of people" going to college. The exper

Everyone in this thread forgot that free education was the norm and worked fine until someone didn't like the "wrong type of people" going to college. The experiment failed. Revet to something that worked, and go from there. Any suggestion otherwise is foolish and ignorant.

whimsicalism 2y ago
For the vast majority of history including the 20th century, almost nobody went to college. Takes about how everyone used to have free XYZ are usually ahistorical at best.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  We shouldn’t try to replicate the experience of people in the vast majority of history. We should try to replicate the experience of the in-group of the US from like 1950-2000. The quality of life for the in-group during the era was anomalously high, and also the US of that were was an incredibly effective country.
  - whimsicalism 2y ago
    Yes, we should try to bring up everyone to the highest standard of living possible. I just have no patience for suggestions that for most people that standard of living was higher in the past and we simply need to return to it. It's false, ahistorical nostalgia for the past. A well known psychological effect that distorts peoples understanding of how much the past actually sucked in reality. People watching shows like Bridgerton always imagine they would be among the nobility.
    - bee_rider 2y ago
      I definitely agree there, the past is quite bad for most people in most places in most times, compared to now.
vladgur 2y ago
Can you point me to more info on “free college” of the past? I know that for this immigrant few years off the boat, federal grants and deferred interest loans was what gave me access to education that would otherwise put a huge burden on my family at the time. Granted this was for an engineering degree at a public university and amounted to no more than 10-20k as opposed to 200k for an art degree at a private art college that we often read about

whimsicalism 2y ago

For the vast majority of history including the 20th century, almost nobody went to college. Takes about how everyone used to have free XYZ are usually ahistorical at best.

bee_rider 2y ago
We shouldn’t try to replicate the experience of people in the vast majority of history. We should try to replicate the experience of the in-group of the US from like 1950-2000. The quality of life for the in-group during the era was anomalously high, and also the US of that were was an incredibly effective country.
- whimsicalism 2y ago
  Yes, we should try to bring up everyone to the highest standard of living possible. I just have no patience for suggestions that for most people that standard of living was higher in the past and we simply need to return to it. It's false, ahistorical nostalgia for the past. A well known psychological effect that distorts peoples understanding of how much the past actually sucked in reality. People watching shows like Bridgerton always imagine they would be among the nobility.
  - bee_rider 2y ago
    I definitely agree there, the past is quite bad for most people in most places in most times, compared to now.

vladgur 2y ago

Can you point me to more info on “free college” of the past? I know that for this immigrant few years off the boat, federal grants and deferred interest loans was what gave me access to education that would otherwise put a huge burden on my family at the time. Granted this was for an engineering degree at a public university and amounted to no more than 10-20k as opposed to 200k for an art degree at a private art college that we often read about