Democratic misfires: Free tuition

the_real_Barleycorn's Avatar
The democrats are touting a lot of neat things for us in order to buy our votes (and souls). Lets look at some of them.

Free healthcare (Medicare for all)
Free college tuition (forgiveness of student loans)
Reparations for slavery (and now gay couples)
Amnesty for illegals (and the dissolvement of ICE)
Gun control (lawful gun owner control)
Global warming (go ahead and insist we're talking about climate change)
A higher minimum wage
Impeach Trump (and Pence, and Kavanaugh, and so on)

Lets define our terms:

Right--a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.
"she had every right to be angry" · "you're quite within your rights to ask for your money back" · "there is no right of appeal against the decision"
synonyms:
entitlement · prerogative · privilege · advantage · due · birthright · liberty · authority · authorization · power · license · permission · dispensation · leave · consent · warrant · charter · franchise · sanction · exemption · immunity · indemnity · carte blanche · droit

Once again the democrats are calling education a right. Lets check the history first; in 1776 and 1781 education was not universal. A lot of lawyers "read" for the law. That means that they worked for a lawyer and read the law books of that lawyer. They worked as a gofer and intern. At some point the lawyer may write a letter to the law college and say that this person is qualified to practice law. The candidate would have to be interviewed (bar exam) for compliance and competence.
So education was not a right when the founding documents were signed. How about today? Like I said, someone has to make it happen for you. There has to be a teacher, a school, a classroom (even the internet requires a virtual presence). Of course, not all colleges are created equal. If given a chance to get free tuition then I want to matriculate at Harvard. The easiest way to make that happen is to make all colleges part of the Harvard system. Then again, a Harvard degree becomes worthless.
Money...there is about 1.7 trillion in student loans out there. Bernie wants the government to forgive them. So who takes it in the gut? The colleges are out all of that money? Probably not. How about the students? No, you're trying to buy their votes. The government? Sure, but government money is taxpayer money. I got my education on the GI Bill for the most part and the rest had to be paid off. How about a refund for all that money? Bill Gates went to Harvard for a couple of years before he dropped out. Does he get a refund? How about Lori McLoughlin and Felicity Huffman? Do they get a refund? Can they afford it? The government could do that since Obama put all student loans under government control. Why didn't he fix this when he spent 10 trillion dollars. I guess he figured the money would last forever. Once again to save money they're going to have to reduce costs (hello teachers).

So FREE TUTIION will dilute the education process, decrease teacher pay, require teachers to teach against their will, and pretty much guarantee that everyone goes to Harvard. And if everyone goes to "Harvard" then no one really goes to Harvard.
The main problems are too many people got worthless degrees they couldn't find reasonably paying employment with...

And despite what mommy told their kids, education doesn't necessarily make one "smart." Which was a polite way of saying "You can't fix stupid."
Munchmasterman's Avatar
Like trump university, right?
There is a totally worthless piece of paper. Worthless for what it professed to be. Worthless because of the douche-bag who signed it. And worthless as toilet paper.

Its only redeeming function is as evidence of the cocksuckery of the people involved in creating it.
The main problems are too many people got worthless degrees they couldn't find reasonably paying employment with...

And despite what mommy told their kids, education doesn't necessarily make one "smart." Which was a polite way of saying "You can't fix stupid." Originally Posted by gnadfly
the_real_Barleycorn's Avatar
You're guilty of deflection. Get back on topic.
Free Indoctrination for all.
You're guilty of deflection. Get back on topic. Originally Posted by the_real_Barleycorn
No he dosn't have to get back on topic. What he needs to do is get back in his suitcase and stop bothering us.
Munchmasterman's Avatar
When you see a quote by someone else in a post, that's what my post is responding to.

Try to remember that.

My response wasn't a deflection and it was on topic for the quote it referenced.

What subject do you supposedly teach?
You're guilty of deflection. Get back on topic. Originally Posted by the_real_Barleycorn
dilbert firestorm's Avatar
there's ways to fix the tuition situation. but this solution dems are proposing ain't it.


it has to be done at the state level; reform is needed at the public universities in how they operate.
make the the free tuition thing retroactive and get even more votes

they should toss in reimbursing for living expenses cuz student loans were for that as well

if your college expenses were incurred a number of years ago, use the cpi index to get reimbursed in current dollars

and for those who paid as they went, factor in loan interest as well

but the one tweak I'd make is the special tax should not target wall street but college administrators and professors with tenure, past and present
Chung Tran's Avatar
if I was in charge...

I would make a Bachelor's degree free.. an online degree. each State can set up its own curriculum, slap it online.. the cost would be relatively minimal. this is easily done. instead, Obama decided to get in bed with "for profit", bullshit higher education companies, dispensing loan money like candy on Halloween. that is the source of much of the loan problem, people attending those bullshit Universities, who got nothing out of them, except a huge payback schedule.
The_Waco_Kid's Avatar
if I was in charge...

I would make a Bachelor's degree free.. an online degree. each State can set up its own curriculum, slap it online.. the cost would be relatively minimal. this is easily done. instead, Obama decided to get in bed with "for profit", bullshit higher education companies, dispensing loan money like candy on Halloween. that is the source of much of the loan problem, people attending those bullshit Universities, who got nothing out of them, except a huge payback schedule. Originally Posted by Chung Tran

the cost would be next to nothing compared to the cost of a brick and mortar traditional university. by about 10 orders of magnitude at a low ball guess.


a bunch of servers and salary for some online professors working from home in their pj's and bunny slippers has to be 10, 20 orders of magnitude cheaper than building an actual college campus.
bambino's Avatar
the cost would be next to nothing compared to the cost of a brick and mortar traditional university. by about 10 orders of magnitude at a low ball guess.


a bunch of servers and salary for some online professors working from home in their pj's and bunny slippers has to be 10, 20 orders of magnitude cheaper than building an actual college campus. Originally Posted by The_Waco_Kid
Could one get an Ivy League online degree? It would be a better deal than what the real deal is!
the cost would be next to nothing compared to the cost of a brick and mortar traditional university. by about 10 orders of magnitude at a low ball guess.


a bunch of servers and salary for some online professors working from home in their pj's and bunny slippers has to be 10, 20 orders of magnitude cheaper than building an actual college campus. Originally Posted by The_Waco_Kid
The issue becomes the number of degrees that need hands on labs/training/research/etc.

A large number of classes could be offered exactly the way you say, but there is in the end for many degrees a need for brick and mortar(or some equivalent) to get the hands on needs.
the_real_Barleycorn's Avatar
Nothing replaces the in class experience where have to deal personally with different opinions.
SpeedRacerXXX's Avatar
Nothing replaces the in class experience where have to deal personally with different opinions. Originally Posted by the_real_Barleycorn
So true.