Student Loans Mess

The question many are asking is, "How was an entire generation tricked into taking on one trillion dollars in student debt that only enriches banks?"

Ans: Those loans were taken out to pay for a service, which means that while the interest may enrich banks, the principal enriched the provider of the service, namely institutions of higher education. If the service proved to be less valuable than promised, it is those institutions, not the banks, that ripped off their customers.

Why is "Big Education" always immune to leftist criticism?

Ans: Leftists must protect their indoctrination centers.

We are having a similar issue on this side of the pond.

The Coalition government has introduced student tuition fees over here which has caused merry hell in higher education, including some extremely violent demonstrations last winter.

Whilst I personally am against tuition fees for higher education, I agree your point that it is the institutions themselves that are "enriched". It is they who are responsible for the standard of education received, not the banks. Bank loans merely facilitate the purchase of tuition. The quality of that tuition is up to the providers.... the colleges and universities.

Conspiracy theorists may suggest that the banks had a hand in these charges being established and there may be something in that. I'm open to persuasion on that score.

But one of the upshots of this, over here, is that a number of British students are now looking to European institutions for their higher education. Whilst it is widely regarded that British and American higher education is the best available anywhere in the world, many British students are looking first and foremost at the bottom line and are signing up with significantly cheaper European universities, particularly in Holland and Germany.

The effect of this on the British institutions is that they are starting to accept an increasing number of overseas students, particularly from the far east, who are quite willing to pay. We are starting to see a small, but increasing demographic shift in the student body of our higher education establishments. This should be a cause of concern, in my opinion.

It's quite a bizarre consequence of the introduction of tuition fees that British students are spurning their own education system for cheaper courses overseas which may be of lesser quality and provide degrees which may not even be recognised by some British employers whilst at the same time, foreign students who know quality when they see it are prepared to pay to come here to get an education which will greatly enhance their employment prospects when they return home as graduates.

Some may say that if our young people are so short sighted that they will take a cut price education, then they deserve a second rate degree. When they come home and find themselves in competition for jobs with those who put quality at the top of their priorities, they should not be surprised if they find themselves missing out on the better appointments.

It's hard to tell, yet, whether that fear is realistically grounded. I'm undecided on which way it will go. I suppose only time will tell.


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We've always had tuition over here. But as "Big Education" has continually jacked the rates up (curiously unremarked upon by the liberal MSM et al where any other industry would have been lambasted), the number of worthless degrees they're offering has gone up as well. A quality education is still there, but you have to hunt for it amongst all the assembly line curricula and PC indoctrination which has replaced education in so many schools--especially in the much overrated Ivy League. If you aren't going into hard science, engineering, medicine or law, and know you're going to use your degree when you graduate, don't waste your money and time.

Sadly, we have seen crap degree courses come into being here too. some linguistics colleges offer courses in how to speak Klingon... and that is not the worst example. Staffordshire University offers a course on David Beckham Studies and one institution (can't remember which one) has a course on The Science of Harry Potter..!!


We still offer first class degree courses in arts, sciences humanities and the classics but sadly, you're not alone in the offering of nonsense degree courses.


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What I don't understand is why, if colleges and universities are "Leftist indoctrination centers", do republicans still send their children to Harvard and Yale?

They're the establishment Republicans for the most part, socialist lites, Republicans In Name Only (RINOs). Bush I & II for instance, but not Reagan. Obama has forced them (and Independents) kicking and screaming to the right to an alliance with the Tea Party, while holding their collective noses.

So real republicans don't need no stinkin education right?

That certainly explains a lot.

MY mama always told me if you step in dog crap. Clean it off before you bring it home.

The distinction that needs to be made is between education, where students are taught to think for themselves, and indoctrination, where they're molded to fit into the hive-mind. Think pack vs. herd.

Yes, that does indeed explain a lot.

The most desirable combination is fiscal and defense-minded conservatives, and social libertarians. Conservatarians.

Real repubs don't go to college don'cha know!

Imagine going to a prospective employer and saying, "Yes, I have a Masters in Klingon, and I'm completing my Doctoral thesis in Romulan."




Ahhh the old intellectual thingy. I'm surprise at you, Marx was anti-intellectual. But then on second thought, he was just against actual intellectuals, not the government branded ones. Nothing against education, per se, "intellectuals" are almost all self-styled as such now, as opposed to those possessing wisdom which combines knowledge with the world-view of those who make an honorable living. "Intellectuals" inhabit just a few segments of academe, while wisdom is often found elsewhere in its halls.

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Which is it? Students should be taught to think for themselves or be fed a philosophy of fiscal and defense-minded conservatism?

Our's is not to reason why, Our's is but to do and die!

He won't answer this, because there's no way that he can and save face, so I'll answer it for him.

Students should be taught to think for themselves as long as what they're taught to think for themselves coincides with what TPT believes.