Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Thursday, May 7. 2009

The Dems' College Loan Plans

The Dems seem to want everybody to go to college. I want everybody to get a solid HS education, but many will not. Not because of the schools - because they don't want it.


As I have said many times here, one does not "get" educated: one takes it - or does not. As it is, how many colleges are glorified high schools, diploma mills, or propaganda factories?


The Dems want student loans to be a federal entitlement. That would basically make colleges and universities fully under the thumb of the feds, which will lead to everything becoming politicized. Also, they want to eliminate private college loans. Does this all sound sort of familiar?


In part, their wishes sound like a government full-employment plan for PhDs in unmarketable subject areas, and one more power grab over independent and private institutions.

Posted by The Barrister in Education, Our Essays, Politics at 09:52 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Other than loans and fellowships or university employment, there is almost no financial aid available for grad school. Is Obama trying to change that?
#1 rightwingprof (Link) on 2009-05-07 10:53 (Reply)
You got that right. My wife has been trying to get grants or scholarships for her master degree. Nothing available.

The Dems must think that a college ed might make up for not getting a HS education. Credentials are everything, actual knowledge don't mean squat.
#1.1 sean on 2009-05-07 12:27 (Reply)
The flaws inherent in today's high school curricula are obvious, and have been discussed here before. They have led to such ridiculous solutions as 'remedial English' courses in college -- teaching students correct grammar and sentence structure in college, because God knows what they taught them in high school when they were supposed to be teaching them basic English grammar and sentence structure. We see the results all around us -- newspaper reporters who destroy English every time they try to write in English. Saw one essay yesterday in which the reporter said she had researched the subject "exhaustedly." Made me tired just to think about it.

Marianne
#2 Marianne Matthews on 2009-05-07 16:14 (Reply)
Marianne, we had to diagram sentences from fourth grade on, IIRC. Do they do that in schools any more?

Never mind high school, we had grammar, writing and penmanship drilled into us all the way through elementary school.
#3 Retread on 2009-05-07 17:48 (Reply)
I WISH colleges and universities were under someone's thumb. In my state, billions are given to state universities and they are not only not required by law to be accountable to the taxpayers for how it is spent, the state government has given them a free pass on being accountable. Under the guise of "academic freedom", they're ready, willing and able to spend as much money as they want on whatever they want, still increase tuition every year, and come begging again next year. Taj Mahal academic buildings? Whatever you want. Even classier admin buildings? Exorbitant (six-figures and perks that would make a corp CEO blush) salaries for profs who do nothing but give lip service to research their grad students and teaching assistants do, and haven't been in a classroom for years? Absolutely.....

Reform that system and maybe we'll talk about affordable college for everyone.
#4 Dazed & Amazed (Link) on 2009-05-08 16:43 (Reply)
Retread ... If you had grammar, writing and basic English Lit. drilled into you in grade school, as we did, my husband and I, then you were one lucky person, since the pundits in the field of learning say that the best time to learn languages is before the age of 12. And English is a language, no? Our 'native' language, in fact. Though for how long, I sometimes wonder.

I like the penmanship part, too. I've just been writing checks with my crippled old fingers, and I've reverted to printing, for all but the signature. Oh, I know I could pay bills online, and it's supposed to be secure. But ever since our identity was stolen [and what a mess that was!] I feel more secure if I have an actual written document, or a picture of one, to back up my claims of payment. I think we all are going to have increasing numbers of con persons trying to invade our checking accounts, and forge checks we never wrote, since they're being told all the time that they're entitled to our money. So I'm trying to nail down the proof on every bill I pay.

Marianne
#5 Marianne Matthews on 2009-05-08 23:22 (Reply)
What we need is not more financial assistance for college, it is to make colleges and universities that receive federal funding get their costs under control. Making student loans easier to get, making going to college easier are trojan horses for excuses for univerisities to keep jacking up tuition and fees 10-12% a year. A loan still has to be paid back, and it will still take a long, long time. Stop giving federal money to these places and start making them be responsible with the money they have, and put caps on how much they can raise tuition and fees annually.
#6 Dirk on 2009-05-09 08:28 (Reply)
Government Controll of Making College Funding available,
will only make College Cost HIgher.

Make College cost competitive and you will solve the problem. Makeing it a government funded program will make it like the Post Office,
#7 Squire on 2009-05-25 08:03 (Reply)

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