Forum Post: HIgher Education: Big Business?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 14, 2011, 10:33 p.m. EST by hiddensp
(10)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I am just curious if you consider Colleges and Universities as evil corporations as well. Profit or non-profit, I see these institutions as part of the problem. The Federal Government throws money at them, students are more then willing to pay the ever increasing tuition rates (although sadly usually through student loans), and the sports programs bring in billions of dollars. If you think for a minute that colleges and universities are there to educate you, you're wrong. They are there to make money.
The worst part of academia, from inside one of the resources previously linked: http://web.archive.org/web/20051026214302/www.universitysecrets.com/ch05.htm "Lost faith-- Poor housing and lack of community have undoubtedly hurt many students, caused many to drop out, and some to commit suicide. But there is a deeper tragedy than poor housing or a lack of community. Generations of students have lost faith that human problems can be solved by human institutions. Worse yet, the institution that has failed them is the one that promised to teach them the humane and rational sciences. It told them that wise and good people were in charge. It said that everything that could be done for their benefit was being done. It took their money and years of their lives and gave them back empty promises. "
http://web.archive.org/web/20060106223308/www.universitysecrets.com/ch30.htm "The third reform I recommend is that we pay equal attention and devote equal resources to our non-college students -- if necessary, giving them enough money for a car or a home if not vocational training -- to show that we love and value them equally. This is what we owe them, but it's also what we owe ourselves. The fundamental assumption of higher education is wrong -- we don't owe brighter students extra attention, only equal opportunity. I believe this is the most important reform of all. It came to me after many years because I kept asking myself why higher education keeps separating students into alphas and betas at almost every stage and level of the system. Gradually I began to realize that this notion of tracking favors established social classes. It makes the university one of the most powerful institution in our society, a kind of temple that selects and perpetuates a ruling class. It elevates academic ability into a distorted test of human ability and citizenship. It plays a Social Darwin role in separating society into wealthy and poor -- especially as education grows longer and more expensive. ..."
I would not say they are evil, but definitely broken. I am close to graduating with my Electrical Engineering degree and have had an internship in the field. I can tell you from personal experience that I probably only used 10% of what I learned in school to complete my internship. I received a great evaluation from the company and was invited back. I do feel that since only the most profitable Universities get the research grants from the State and Federal government, it gives them a huge incentive to offer useless classes just to charge students higher tuition. It's more of a systemic problem than the school being evil and greedy.
When you say you are using only 10% of what you learned in to complete your internship, do you mean that the job and the education are not matching up? In other words, you are learning a lot of useless stuff?
Yes that is exactly what I am saying. I guess in principle, any knowledge is good knowledge, but in academia it is very expensive to get useless knowledge. College in America is now a business and the mission isn't to prepare us for a career anymore. Now I have learned some great things in college, but higher education has become more expensive than what it's worth. If all of the useless things were cut out of college, than education could be affordable for nearly everyone. We wouldn't need these pricey student loans anymore.
Thanks for your reply and clarification. I agree with you 100%!
DEAR INDIVIDUAL READING THIS, What must we as people do to fight this grave injustice inflicted upon us, by the ones who lust for power? How can we end the reign of the wicked and immoral and mete JUSTICE upon the oppressors as we have suffered from their hands-their blood stained hands... An idea of REVOLUTION-no, the act of revolution enacted by the proletarians! Must we as individuals ,as is always done, remain pawns to these people, these monoliths that we alone as individuals cannot surmounted...I surmise that we are not ignorant to the woes inflicted upon us by their enormities? We must UNIFY! Unity will be the way in which we assert ourselves!...While I realize all are not are not without income or funds and many cannot unify with this growing movement do to reasons of possible opposition and they being the people I'm question who we oppose (Wall Street), and many have responsibility they must tend to that take precedence. We must rise and vanquish this behemothto restore the equilibrium, for when disturbed it causes much chaos and strife in the hearts of man( man being neutral to represent all genders) in his mind and when mans mind and soul are in chaos as many are they rise to vanquish the pestiferous wealthy. However we should not just target these individuals, each of us individually must confront the corruption in our hearts, how can we judge the corrupt and deem them so when we cannot be amenable for ourselves we will surely be deemed hypocrites as we will be.....I am not meaning to say that this protest is in any way unjust, for far too long have we suffered, I mean that we are expected to expiate our sins -assume our parts in the problems we face and how we may have caused it. Yes, the Bankers on Wall Street are corrupt in ways we don't have evidence of without an investigation. But as we suffer soshall they, for we will make it so. But what of our government I say, my fellow citizens do not neglect to Confront the complicit in this affair for the roots of corruption are deeply seated, we have silent enemies amongst us-be warned that although succession in our goals will happen we may face a greater threat to our rights granted unto us from birth be prudent and circumspect. Another issue I wish to address is the idea of mans continual corruption as all things will be permeated with this darkness Inside our hearts.......when a system is created it always deviates from the righteous path, for nations we have learnt of in our education are littered with tales of nations that became corrupt and faded Into the ruin of collapse, we know that a society without corruption is utterly inconceivable, impossible in ways each and everyone of us know...for as long as men exist so shall our inner evil....but I digress from my original Intent of this passage and I ask forgiveness as we must forgive all in all eventual....the rising potentiality of this movement is quite an astonishment, I thought we were not capable of such things and thus I admit I had less faith in my fellow man. I see that we have all come to the realization of the need to bring the greedy to justice, although the reasons for your protesting may be unique to you, you share many goal, I had prognostications, inklings seems more appropriate of a term, that one day man would wake to realize the greater truth outside of his/her reality, and break the cycles of obsession with superficial base needs and trite motives, a dull and predictable lot we were but we've surpassed that I hope....for if not we will founder and fall Into the patterns we had grown so accustomed to, living such prosaic pedestrian lives stultified by the elite and of our own ignorance we always have the means to educate ourselves in this age, we have no limits to what we may learn based on our status in society, the powerful can no longer succeed in keeping us stupefied we have freewill to reason and learn and form our own ideas, ideas that would otherwise have died by the hands of the bigots! Our endeavours shall be crowned with fruition of our goals for our will allows it, we have broken free from the will of the oppressors......as Desmond Tutu stated "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." YOURS TRULY-Aaron Thomas Bridge
An artwork I made for my BFA graduation exhibition. "An Education in Debt (Tuition)" $64,147 of real paper currency representing student debt.
http://www.dmitriobergfell.com/?page_id=452
I made the decision to go to a private art school. Reflecting on it, I wish I had more information about schools and loans when I was considering higher education. I am happy I went to the school I went to, but schools with such expensive prices tag should provide more information about tuition costs. I feel that students should be taught the price of their education in relation to the rest of the market. With my monthly loan payments I could be leasing a Mercedes. Ha!
Im 100% in agreement ,see all my earlier post .thanks
I teach at a community college. We change lives, for the better.
How do you change lives for the better?
Yes you make some good points
This is a post about student loan debt:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/an-infographic-about-student-loan-debt-your-gatewa/
For-profit universities are undoubtedly a scam. Many employers see right through "online degrees" and push those resumes to the bottom of the pile (if they don't throw them immediately into the trash). Yet, for-profit schools charge astronomical sums for tuition and primarily target the poor.
Kind of like "sub-prime loans," except for education.
see I have a problem with non-profit universities as well. I do not think any of them operate as non-profits. It's all about getting money.
I think some do. However, it appears that more and more have become more money-focused than student-focused.
For-profit "universities," on the other hand, are just jokes. I don't know why people go that route. I suppose it's just ignorance and gullibility.
Links:
"The Underground History of American Education" by 1991 NYS Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm
"The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher" also by John Taylor Gatto http://www.newciv.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt
"State Controlled Consciousness" also by John Taylor Gatto http://www.the-open-boat.com/Gatto.html
"The Big Crunch" by David Goodstein, Vice Provost, Caltech http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html
"Disciplined Minds" by Jeff Schmidt http://www.disciplined-minds.com/
"What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream" by Noam Chomsky http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199710--.htm
"University Secrets:Your Guide to Surviving a College Education" by Robert D. Honigman http://web.archive.org/web/20060707100524/www.universitysecrets.com/us.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20060710145531/www.universitysecrets.com/table.htm
"The Kept University" http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/03/press.htm
"In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness " by Chris Mercogliano, who spent thirty-five years teaching at the Albany Free School http://www.chrismercogliano.com/childhood.htm
"Teach Your Own" by John Holt (and other books) http://www.holtgws.com/
"The Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewellyn (and other books) http://gracellewellyn.com/
"The Emergence of Compulsory Schooling and Anarchist Resistance" By Matt Hern http://web.archive.org/web/20071014123355/http://www.social-ecology.org/article.php?story=20031028151034651 http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Compulsory-Schooling-AnarchistMar03.htm
"Sustainable Education" by Jerry Mintz http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/article.mpl?articleid=195&newsletterid=1
"Federated Learning Communities" http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-1/learning.html http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ilc/models.html
"College for $99 a Month" http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/college_for_99_a_month.php
"College is a Waste of Time and Money" http://www.grossmont.edu/bertdill/docs/CollegeWaste.pdf
"We’re NOT Off to See the Wizard: REVISITING THE IDEA OF COLLEGE" http://unconventionalideas.wordpress.com/?s=wizard
"The Three Boxes of Life and How to Get Out of Them: An Introduction to Life/Work Planning" by Richard N. Bolles (also writes "What Color is Your Parachute") http://www.amazon.com/Three-Boxes-Life-How-Them/dp/0913668583
"Is Higher Education in Need of a Moral Bailout? The Corporate Stranglehold on Education" http://www.counterpunch.org/giroux09082009.html
"To fix US schools, panel says, start over" (a little too commercial oriented in their goals for me...) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1215/p01s01-ussc.html
"Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?" http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27tools-t.html
"The Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO)" http://www.educationrevolution.org/
"Un-schooling, Homeschooling, and Autodidactic Features" http://www.whywork.org/action/reform/education.html
"Freeman Dyson on the PhD system and other things" http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?DysonWinCom05
"Generation Debt; Wanted: Really Smart Suckers: Grad school provides exciting new road to poverty" http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0417,kamenetz,53011,1.html
A page with yet more links: "Links About Academia" http://novia.net/~pschleck/academia/
General related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People%27s_History_of_the_United_States http://www.historyisaweapon.com/indextrue.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_democratic_schools http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_schools
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
All our education system really leads to these days is Arrogant Ignorance.
I agree....
universities don't lobby government so no.
Watch the film Inside Job to see the way Universities influence the policies of Wall Street and the way they are in bed with them.
Many more people will come to your side when you are proactive (for “new” Business & Government solutions), instead of reactive (against “old” Business & Government solutions), which is why what we most immediately need is a comprehensive “new” strategy that implements all our various socioeconomic demands at the same time, regardless of party, and although I'm all in favor of taking down today's ineffective and inefficient Top 10% Management System of Business & Government, there's only one way to do it – by fighting bankers as bankers ourselves; that is, using a Focused Direct Democracy organized according to our current Occupations & Generations. Consequently, I have posted a 1-page Summary of the Strategically Weighted Policies, Organizational Operating Structures, and Tactical Investment Procedures necessary to do this at:
http://getsatisfaction.com/americanselect/topics/on_strategic_legal_policy_organizational_operational_structures_tactical_investment_procedures
Join
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StrategicInternationalSystems/
because we need 100,000 “support clicks” at AmericansElect.org to support a Presidential Candidate -- such as any given political opportunist you'd like to draft -- in support of the above bank-focused platform.
Most importantly, remember, as cited in the first link above, that as Bank Owner-Voters in your 1 of 48 "new" Business Investment Groups (or "new" Congressional Committees) you become the "new" Congress replacing the "old" Congress according to your current Occupation & Generation, called a Focused Direct Democracy.
Therefore, any Candidate (or Leader) therein, regardless of party, is a straw man, a puppet; it's the STRATEGY – the sequence of steps – that the people organize themselves under, in Military Internet Formation of their Individual Purchasing & Group Investment Power, that's important. In this, sequence is key.
Why? Because there are Natural Social Laws – in mathematical sequence – that are just like Natural Physical Laws, such as the Law of Gravity. You must follow those Natural Social Laws or the result will be Injustice, War, etc.
The FIRST step in Natural Social Law is to CONTROL the Banks as Bank Owner-Voters. If you do not, you will inevitably be UNJUSTLY EXPLOITED by the Top 10% Management Group of Business & Government who have a Legitimate Profit Motive, just like you, to do so.
Consequently, you have no choice but to become Candidates (or Leaders) yourselves as Bank Owner-Voters according to your current Occupation & Generation.
So please JOIN the 2nd link so we can make our support clicks at AmericansElect.org when called for, at exactly the right time, by an e-mail from that group, in support of the above the bank-focused platform in the 1st link. If so, then you will see and feel how your goals can be accomplished within the above strategy as a “new” Candidate (or Leader) of your Occupation & Generation.