Polarization
Education
Education loans are another kettle of fish. These also do their part to polarize society. The entrapment of gullible youth, naively
seeking to get ahead: to start a career, build a life, find a better job… has
turned into a national outrage. To deliberately
press the point, in a ridiculous[i]
and sarcastic reductio ad absurdum: we are headed toward a society where a
graduate PhD struggles to keep a job as a chain store greeter at minimum wage;
yet, is saddled with a million-dollar debt that can never be repaid: the idiot[ii]
owns the Lamborghini of education; can’t make the payments; and the bank has no
means of repossession. This raises the
question, who is responsible to pay for education?
In its original concept, the Deluder Satan Act (1647),
education became a matter of Massachusetts Law: therefore, the Sovereign State of
Massachusetts bears sole responsibility for funding it. The concept provided for “Reading, ‘Riting,
and ‘Rithmetic”… finishing around sixth grade.
There was no concept of professional career competence involved. The populace was well enough educated: to
attend church and participate knowledgeably; as well as to go about life
without being swindled. Career
development was a personal or family responsibility: as a result, the wealthy
were better educated. But, at least the
poor were well enough educated that they were not the prey of the wealthy in
the marketplace or at theology: they were partially armed against being
defrauded.
Sunday Schools began with a similar intent. Slaves were taught to read and write so that
they could understand their Bibles, and become good Christians. Professional education and training was the
responsibility of the plantation owner, not a burden on society; it was a
normal cost of doing business. Thus,
slaves were educated in accordance with the owner’s needs… if a bookkeeper was
needed, a bookkeeper was trained: but, not to a better paying job… a slave was,
after all, still a slave.
However, with the rise of the industrial revolution, there
was a massive shift in education needs, philosophy, priorities, requirements
and responsibilities. Education is no
longer a service to mankind. Education
is now a requirement of the factory.
Business is responsible to pay for all education beyond sixth grade.
Professional skills, learning to farm from your father who
farmed, are less and less needed: while new professional skills become essential. The simple landed farmer is disappearing from
the earth. Corrupt lending and taxation
practices, as well as inflation, make it less and less likely that the kids
will inherit the farm: besides, most of the kids want to move to the city where
life is exciting and fun, where “better” jobs are available. What the kids don’t realize is that with the
loss of the farm, is the attendant loss of bargaining power, as well as the
concomitant loss of freedom: they no longer have a shared ownership in
anything, they are becoming slaves.
Factory work becomes the dominant mode of employment. Tales of sweatshop terror are not difficult
to find: they fill the pages of American, as well as British literature. Factory brutality and death are well
documented… everybody knows the horror stories.
Somehow or other the wealthy factory power players convinced the
populace that a certain minimum level of professional education was necessary
for society; and should be funded from the public pocketbook: high school
education was born. This is all profit
for the wealthy factory power players: they get to eliminate a normal cost of
doing business, as well as a bothersome responsibility, foisting it off on the
general populace. Granted, some of the
cost elimination is recouped through taxes: but, only a very small part of
it. Irony of ironies, the employee now
has to pay for his own job training through taxes.
It only gets worse: the employee has lost his franchise, his
vestiture and voice in the business. He
was part owner of the farm, and lawful heir.
In a downturn economy, he could not be fired, and almost always had a
bed, food, clothing and a say-so in the solution process. As an employee, he owns nothing, inherits
nothing, and is laid off or fired during a downturn economy: in many ways, he
is worse off than a slave.
Moreover, his tax situation has changed radically. On the farm, food produced on the farm, was
tax free, as were many other goods and services, which were all deductible business
expenses. Only the profit on goods sold,
capital gain was taxable. Goods sold at
loss, capital losses were tax deductions.
As an employee, all of these things are now taxable: for the
employee making a living wage, even those necessities for life are now
taxable. A few employees made a saving
wage. Down on the farm, only the saving
portion of the wage, the true profit, would be taxable… now, everything is taxable.
But, not for the wealthy owners: who retain all of the
franchise and all of the rights of expense deduction. The employee is now at a distinctly unfair
disadvantage: employers are taxed on capital gains, employees are taxed on the
whole paycheck. It will be a while
before tax law even attempts to level this field. At square one, business should have born the
entire cost of high school education: it was exclusively for their benefit.
Such is the glory of a career, which women have come to envy
so much… no it’s a lethal trap.
The demand for educated employees is a business issue, not a
human right, not a public responsibility.
Education, as with any other manufacturing plant, begins with a raw
material and ends with a finished product.
If that product is not marketable: the business can and should go out of
business. Since, the business community
is the consumer of such products: businesses should expect to buy graduates at
a reasonable cost, not for free as a burden on society. In other words, education is a cost of doing
business, which businesses should have to pay up-front in the form of vetting
and providing scholarships for their choices.
Nobody should have to pay to go to college. Nobody should go to college, if there isn’t a
guaranteed job at the output end. Let
the bidding begin at high school graduation, or even before.[iii]
From the advent of massive war (the Civil War and beyond);
government itself became the business consuming around half of the advanced
education product: this is one reason that government now demands and designs
the shape of education. However, this is
an extremely expensive, extravagantly costly business. Those of our children who make it through this
rigorous vetting process are turned into the inventors of weapons of mass
destruction, the builders of marvelous killing machines. Those of our children who fail at this vetting
process are sent off to die to satisfy the selfish ambitions of others. Ambitions, that are sold to us as justifiable
war, or necessities of the peace keeping process.
From another perspective, education is the only business
that does not have to market its product.
Schools have no sales force, little advertising, no wholesaling, no retail
outlets: imagine an automobile manufacturer without car dealerships. Schools don’t even have direct factory
computer sales, distribution, and service… they don’t repair what they build
either. All the responsibility for the
education product is dumped on the graduate.
No wonder, then, that the business has trouble maintaining funding… it
has created a product for which there is no market. Graduation does not guarantee employment, or
even a good chance of purchase off-the-lot.
As far as that goes, nobody should graduate from high school
until the high school PR department has placed them in a well-paying position…
otherwise, why were they in high school to begin with, if not to develop
employable professional skills. This
funny-business of loading education costs on individuals and society is a bunch
of nonsense. If your company wants an
educated work force, pay for it from square one: stop dumping this on the
populace as a tax load. This foolishness
creates a broken society with little hope of employment or survival. Stop it.
All of the same arguments apply to college, only more so.
Neither, should pay scales be geared to one’s education level. This creates the polarizing idea that somehow
or other skilled trades are not valuable.
Now, America is suffering from a shortage of skilled trades. An employee with four more years of education
is no more valuable to business or society than the employee who has spent four
years on the job. During that same four-year
period, both study, both learn, both improve.
In many ways, four years on the job is more valuable than four years
spent in school: for four years on the job applies directly to production;
whereas, education takes additional time to ripen. At the end of eight years, four years of
education and four more years on the job might be equivalent to eight years on
the job.
Still, a greater risk for polarization remains. In an already highly polarized society, new teachers
begin work being already polarized, new students begin studies being already polarized,
the political force funding, and ruling education is also a direct cause of polarization. Such a style of education only serves to
intensify the existent systemic polarization epidemic: education is reduced to little
more than a public brainwash, which only gets worse the higher up the education
ladder one goes. One of the major
problems of modern education is breaking this polarization, rather than
inculcating it. As a result, some of our
best problem solvers are not educated.
Artists, in particular, may avoid education, or at least certain types
of education, because education risks killing their latent creativity. If one teacher is a fanatic Democrat, while
the other is a fanatic Republican, all the student is apt to learn is improved
fighting skill: students will probably not learn to bridge the gaps or find new
solutions to existing polarizations: instead, they will go on marches, or
otherwise mimic the polarization of the adults around them: they will attack
each other, not the problem.
It is indeed tragic that teachers can’t make a fair
wage. What did you expect from an
industry that was not funded by its customer sales; that never marketed its
product; and dumped its responsibilities on government. Now, at least in our State, government can’t
keep up with the load: we have the worst State education system in our State.[iv] Until, education can solve the polarization
problem in education, and produce a marketable product: society will only be
saddled with more polarization. Think
about it; we are currently polarized over whether teachers will or will not get
a raise.
The name of the game is called divide and conquer. The polarizers always win. The polarized always loose. We need to teach ourselves to stop attacking
each other, and learn to attack the problem.
That is the situation we must reverse in and through education….
[i]
Meaning to deliberately ridicule the problem, not that the idea is entirely
ridiculous. At our present rate of
progress, the idea is not as farfetched as it might at first seem: we already
have institutions dispensing PhDs like Aspirin tablets… they’re just more
expensive. The outcome is a totally
incompetent person with a major degree.
In some respects, this has always been the case. It is no secret; in fact it’s a public
disgrace that the wealthy can hire professionals to write their papers and take
their tests: thus, not earning a degree at all.
The irony of this is that it is a perfect preparation for life: for the
wealthy will spend their careers directing others to do their work for them;
yet, the real professional competence rests with the minions.
[ii]
Etymologically, an idiot (one who keeps to himself) is an antisocial or private
person, implying a certain lack of professional skills, like a dumb (speechless,
not stupid) person… someone who could or would not defend himself.
[iii]
Lest you be deluded into thinking that this is a ludicrous idea, consider the
special treatment given to athletes at all levels. Athletes in some sports now begin vetting at
age four; exceptional candidates are recruited, even during grade school, certainly
in high school, and intensively in college.
Before college graduation they already have promoters. They are employed by contracts, not at
will. Name one other profession that
receives such special attention and treatment… maybe some movie stars.
The rest of the education system is left hungry and wanting:
yet, athletics contributes less to the public welfare than any other
field. Why?
I believe that all students should be provided equivalent
opportunity and treatment as that afforded by sports programs: special
recruiting, the whole works, including contractual employment… plus an offer of
vestiture in the business.
[iv]
Remember, “The best State fair in our State.”
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