This piece has been linked all over the web, I think mostly because it has some great lines that are perfect for a blog post. When I went to read the whole essay on the state of higher education in this country, I came across this:
What actually will happen to higher ed, when the breaking point comes, will be an extension of what has already happened, what money wants to see happen. Another market-driven disaster will be understood as a disaster of socialism, requiring an ever deeper penetration of the university by market rationality.
Leftists just can tell the difference between a market the is functioning imperfectly and an industry that is overridden with bad incentives created by the government. They can’t see that the government has created barriers to entry. They can’t see, especially in the case of the author of this essay the corruption of the accrediting bodies. They look at the student loan program and recognize its evil qualities, but do not recognize that is is a creation of government.
I wonder what will happen to the liberal arts. I imagine, because we, as a nation, are wealthy enough that there will always be liberal arts. The surviving liberal arts programs just won’t be populated with students that think the degrees will lead to a high paying job.
As is often said, go read the whole thing. Really, it’s very good.
Tags: Higher Education, Student Loans