Bad ideas

Friday, I fisked the story of some naïve kid from New York who believes that everyone should go to college, even though he himself is facing a huge loss on his investment.

Today, there's news of a naïve kid from North Carolina who also believes everyone should go to college.

Oh, wait, that's former senator John Edwards.

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called "College for Everyone."

Maybe we can get him a job in Coldfoot, Alaska, instead.

Comments

[Kenneth Pike]

I wonder how serious politicians can really be about this "College for Everyone" stuff. Now, I'm not necessarily against it--personally I would be ecstatic if the citizens of the U.S. as a whole were better educated (starting with mandatory philosophy studies in high school). But that is not--and has never been--the point of these programs. The promise they make is to build a country of well-to-do doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Which sounds like a splendid idea right up until you need an oil change, a package delivery, or a meal.

Obtaining the finer things in life often does--and always ought to!--require a few years of personal sacrifice. The transformation of luxuries like cell phones and cable television into "necessities" is far more to blame for people's financial woes than inadequate education. Some comforts--nutrition, running water, adequate heating--a country as rich as ours should be able to effectively guarantee its citizens, one way or another. But while higher education should be attainable for any who want it, how much you want something is pretty plainly manifest by how far you're willing to go to obtain it.

[Dan]

Yeah, you want mandatory philosophy ed in high school. I'll agree at least as far as the Greeks, though I stubbornly subscribe to Mr. Higgins's Philosophic Law: 'All German philosophers go to hell.'

By the same token, I want better history education in high school, holding that all the major lessons of life are amply illustrated in a solid class on Greek and Roman history, and a good 2 years of American history.

With regards to the Edwards plan, we have to acknowledge that the more universal college education becomes, the less valuable it necessarily becomes. Eventually, we may need a whole new credentialing system; more likely, masters degrees will become the new bachelors, and getting a thorough formal education will take fully nineteen years without any dawdling. Already, it's almost impossible to work as a professional historian without at least an MA.

In the end, it's all a colossal waste of resources for everyone but the universities themselves. So basically, if Edwards's plan came to fruition, it would just extend government control over education and further erode the value of the universities in general, while lining the pockets of the growing class of tenured professors and the priestly caste of university administrators, a key Democratic party constituency.

So it's all according to plan, I guess.