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Jon Stossel is one of the last few remaining investigative reporters, and used to be on television quite often, 20 years ago. His big career-killing problem was he tends to investigate government waste and corruption. It\u2019s painfully obvious today that much (all?) of our mainstream media is just another department of our government, or at least the deep state, and thus has no interest in revealing its own corruption. Stossel found himself off the government-controlled airwaves because he was just too good at his job.<\/p>\n
Thus he\u2019s consigned to \u201cfringe\u201d \u201calternative\u201d media sites like Reason. He\u2019s recently released a video detailing a scam I write about often:<\/p>\n
Stossel: The College Scam<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The video itself is more evidence of how the world has changed in the last 20 years. We\u2019re in a post-literate society, which is just a fancy way of saying people don\u2019t read much anymore. If you want to disseminate knowledge today, you must use video. I\u2019ve considered doing some videos, but the whole \u201canonymity\u201d thing might make it tough, and I do lack the technical skill to make much beyond me talking.<\/p>\n Anyway, the video is short\u2014another sign of the times, as people just can\u2019t focus for very long. It\u2019s one of the (many, admittedly) reasons the film industry is suffering so in theatres, and people just can\u2019t tear themselves away from their phones for a whole hour and a half. Ok, nowadays a movie is usually an hour and a half of SJW posturing against a backdrop of explosions (hi Last Jedi!), but still.<\/p>\n He says some things in this short video (along with a summary transcript for us dinosaurs who still read), and he misses a mark or two. I\u2019ll cut him some slack because he\u2019s trying to cover this ground fast enough to reach people who are so addled by today\u2019s world they can\u2019t think clearly for much past five minutes, but I\u2019ll make some clarifications all the same.<\/p>\n That’s because most people don’t learn much in college. Studies find that a third of people haven’t learned anything detectable after four years<\/a> in college.<\/em><\/p>\n Yet government pours about $80 billion a year<\/a> into college subsidies.<\/em><\/p>\n “Taxpayers ought to know that they’re getting ripped off,” Caplan tells Stossel.<\/em><\/p>\n For those who don\u2019t have time, the above is basically everything you need to know about higher education in America today: for the vast majority, it\u2019s a big waste of time, and for anyone who pays taxes, it\u2019s a big waste of money.<\/p>\n He says taxpayer money mostly helps more people signal<\/strong> their ability to conform to college expectations.<\/em><\/p>\n –emphasis added.<\/em><\/p>\n While the above is true, the clarification needed is a college degree used to be a valid signal the holder was exceptional in some way. Today\u2019s college degrees are mostly meaningless, since the average GPA is close to A-, and many schools mandate that a certain percentage of students pass every course\u2026a degree is more of a rubber stamp of a person having a pulse than any exceptionality. Toss in how most degrees are in subjects of minimal, if any, job value and we\u2019re back in rip-off territory again.<\/p>\n Stossel merely discusses how giving everyone a degree destroys the usefulness of the degree. While true, he neglects to mention how the student loan scam is destroying the lives of 40,000,000 people and rising<\/a>. I feel the latter detail is far more important to humanity than the destruction of the value of a piece of paper.<\/p>\n Caplan responds that if students wanted to learn they can just walk on to a campus and attend class. Caplan says professors are happy to let the student attend. But few students do that.<\/em><\/p>\n The above is an odd thing to say. Yes, I don\u2019t have a problem if someone wants to attend class, but I\u2019ve received many warnings from admin not to let unregistered students in my classes. This is merely a minor detail, since the modern world really does allow anyone to read and learn about anything without much effort or expense without setting foot on campus (hi internet!).<\/p>\n Caplan does think college is great for a few people like him\u2014tenured professors. He can never be fired, gets paid well, and only has to teach classes for five hours a week.<\/em><\/p>\n “That’s a scam,” Stossel responds, “we’re paying so much money for people like you to teach five hours.”<\/p>\n <\/em>“Yeah. Well, I’m a whistleblower,” Caplan quips.<\/em><\/p>\n My blog has shown time and again that \u201ctenure\u201d and \u201ccan never be fired\u201d are far from synonymous, and shame on Stossel for not being aware of that fact. That said, yes, \u201ctenured professor at a legitimate school\u201d is a wonderful job to have\u2026but there are very few of those. Most college courses are taught by sub-minimum wage adjuncts, and some schools are trying to get the teaching done for free now<\/a>, the better to yield money to the plunderers running many of these places.<\/p>\n Moreover, the professor being interviewed used the time granted by his cushy job to write a book warning people away from college<\/em> and exposing what a scam so much of it is. Maybe he\u2019ll save a few people from destroying themselves in college. This highlights how professors got these cushy jobs, or used to get them, anyway. The whole reason scholars are given so much free time in their jobs is because writing books to help humanity is a thing they do in their free time.<\/p>\n I\u2019m just not concerned with the few and dying faculty with cushy jobs, not when admin outnumber faculty by a wide margin, are paid vastly more, and many have jobs just as cushy. I\u2019ve never, ever, seen an admin write a book trying to help humanity, and I\u2019ve seen quite a few actively hurt human beings in many ways.<\/p>\n All the free money flowing onto campus has warped things, and since the profit margin on \u201ceducation\u201d today is so large, colleges compete to get people willing to pay for it. Before the student loan scam, this competition was done by getting the best faculty, having the most successful programs, and earning a stellar reputation. What do colleges do now?<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026many compete by advertising luxury\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I know I\u2019m something of a one-note singer, but Stossel only scratches the surface of what the student loan money has done to our campuses. Prospective students are now promised lobster dinners for coming to campus, a campus often decorated with a luxury resort-style pool and other recreational areas. 600 colleges now have rock climbing walls\u2014they do look interesting even if most people have the sense not to use them. No matter, \u201clooks\u201d are what it\u2019s all about now.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026used to be reading, writing, and arithmetic. Well now we\u2019re the 4th \u2018r,\u2019 recreation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The above quote from the video nicely sums up higher education after years of drowning in student loan money. Please, please, just stop the student loan scam already.<\/p>\n www.professorconfess.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"