Some time ago, well before the start of our new century and millennial, it became difficult to remember that the real value of higher education is social and political. In 2016, far too many (who really should know better) are somewhat abashed to even think, much less utter, such a quaint sentiment.
Of course, this is much less true for those who can afford the best private (and public) higher education our society has to offer. Theirs are the children of parents well established enough so that participation in the labor force can be more a matter of self-development (or aggrandizement) than survival. Some of them may, somewhat realistically, view the global labor force as a productive resource that they're privileged to bequeath to favored offspring. In any event, these are the parents of children not likely to have their lives blighted by burdensome student debt.
If we lose our democracy (or what currently passes), it will be because we citizens don't value it. And if we scorn our tepid attempts at democracy, it's because too many of us lack the skills necessary to invest democracy with any value at all. Without those skills, all we can do is rant about "the system" being rigged by an idiot elite - and that's only if we're not balanced enough to reject insidious, inflammatory pressures to blame the poor, the immigrants, the weak, or those old standbys: the Blacks and the Jews.
"The institute was judged a success by Morris S. Viteles, one of the pioneers of industrial psychology, who evaluated its graduates. But Bell gradually withdrew its support after yet another positive assessment found that while executives came out of the program more confident and more intellectually engaged, they were also less interested in putting the company’s bottom line ahead of their commitments to their families and communities. By 1960, the Institute of Humanistic Studies for Executives was finished." The Learning Knights of Bell Telephone by Wes Davis, 2010
The skills necessary for democracy are rhetorical and analytical but, to be meaningful, they must be informed by rich humanities - especially literature and history. And it is quite necessary to emphasize that even a *good* college education is only a starting point. It isn't enough!
But please consider the history behind rising college debt. This started very soon after the expansion of the franchise to Blacks, other minorities, and 18-21 year olds in the sixties and seventies - a very short time ago! Poor people started using their vote to demand welfare rights ("Entitlements!!!") and young people were already challenging institutions and leadership at all levels. (There was a lot of random partying and hooliganism at frat parties too, but that hasn't changed much even as college became less and less affordable.)
Youthful (and other forms of) revolt was a worldwide phenomenon in the sixties and early seventies. Therefore archconservative business organizations and liberal internationalists invested in think tank policy formulations to counter the "disquieting" tide of rising expectations, entitlements, and a perceived "excess of democracy".
Such "neoliberal" ideas began animating public relations campaigns right away, and the Reagan Revolution institutionalized it in policy - and glorified it in popular culture.
About fifteen years before the start of the current and persisting neoliberal attack on democracy and freedom "Ma Bell" learned something very interesting about humanistic education. This is described in a New York Times article entitled "The Learning Knights of Bell Telephone" written in 2010 by Wes Davis, a devotee of Irish poetry. The article describes a corporate experiment in providing a rigorous, high quality education to promising middle managers with little or no college background. The experiment was eventually deemed a failure, not because the subjects failed to participate, or to learn, or to value their education. It was deemed a failure because: " . . . while executives came out of the program more confident and more intellectually engaged, they were also less interested in putting the company’s bottom line ahead of their commitments to their families and communities."
This is reason enough to be very suspicious when even well intentioned commentators decry the ongoing student debt scandal with narrow, utilitarian observations about "friction in the job market" caused by the way debt loads distort young peoples' outlook on career choices. Such utilitarian arguments are simply doomed to backfire when the corporate bottom line is given (heavens forfend!) precedence.
A corporation that gives precedence to communities and its families cannot long survive if its direct competitors keep their focus on mere profit. It's just that simple.
So even if everyone (including their children and grandchildren) is made much worse off by pursuing profits and not caring about the externalities of business activities, each individual actor is helpless to change the dynamic of state supported capitalism.
The word "idiot" comes from the ancient Greek where it described someone who thought only of himself. It was used in Athens to shame citizens who shirked their responsibility to the city-state's raucous and fragile democracy. And that's why education is not valued in our society. It's because an idiot elite (.1%) can't help themselves - not because they are stupid even though to many of our leaders are quite stupid (Trump gets some things right) - even when they're sober. Listen to them whine about the "burdens of government" when government is their tool for extracting value from the population and the environment!
Corporate leaders and "investors" can't help being idiots (not caring about society or democracy in an active meaningful way) because the short term incentives and disincentives make it too risky not to be absolutely idiotic.
Unfortunately, we are all clearly suffering the consequences of everyone's failure to value and invest in education based on what is going on right now in our culture and in our politics. The idea that Trump could be anything more than a minor sideshow candidate is both horrifying and sickening. It foretells the death of our current system - and there is no simple alternative, much less any reset button or safety net.
In truth, people can (and should) learn to code at boot camps, form writing groups, Khan Academy societies, and attend Quantum Cafes. Given the right circumstance, many will always actively pursue a well informed, humanistic ability to think clearly and analytically even without ever stepping foot in a college. Those circumstances include some degree of stability and support: things that, with a shrinking middle class, are becoming ever more scarce luxuries - even if the bottom does not fall out of our economy, our politics, and what passes for our culture.
But when plutocrats denigrate college -- or the offered solution to obscene levels of educational debt is to downgrade the value of schooling, something is very wrong. Let's think of ways to educate children in an humane, exciting, and inspiring environments that don't leave so many with lasting hostility to learning. Let's think of ways to ensure that all colleges and universities offer a quality education that won't leave students in debt peonage. (If we can't think of ways ourselves, maybe we could ask Uncle Bernie?). And let's go beyond all that to develop systems that offer every adult a quality, humane, life long education that promotes well contextualized (in the humanities) rhetorical and analytical skills over mere workforce development.
After all, democracy, freedom, and human dignity are at stake.
And then let some interesting, productive friction begin!
