College is Overrated

From the New York Times, April 22, 2014:  “For students who borrow on the private market to pay for school, the death of a parent can come with an unexpected, added blow … Even borrowers who have good payment records can face sudden demands for full, early repayment of those loans, and can be forced into default.”

Are you fucking kidding me?!

Why is it that our capitalistic, American society preys on the very people who can ill afford to be targets?  As if my death would not be enough of a burden to my children, they have to immediately make reconciliation with banks?  I understand that the money needs to be repaid, but this policy, along with the absolutely predatory practices of banking institutions has got to stop. 

The American Dream has a new addendum which seems to insist that everyone get a college degree, else they can make nothing of their lives, an idea which is absolutely untrue.  The further we move into the future, the more clear it becomes that college is yet another falsely inflated commodity which not everyone needs.  Of course the banks offer loans to people who can’t pay their household bills, let alone pay for a four-year, $30,000 college tuition bill.  It’s the same concept as proffering shady home mortgages to people who can’t afford a home:  “It’s American.  Just do it.”  Not everyone needs to own a home, just like not everyone needs to pay for a four-year degree.  There are actually a lot of people working jobs in America who make a lot more money every year than I do, and I have three college degrees. 

It’s a farce, and parents need to counsel their kids to make good choices rather than corporately-sponsored choices.  As a parent, a teacher, a citizen, and a human being, I am getting tired of rich people making destructive decisions for the rest of us, while claiming they’re for our own long-term good.   Perhaps if American high schools did a better job of teaching students concrete, applicable skills, they wouldn’t need two years of remedial college just to get those students up to the “college standard”. 

I call bullshit on this whole system.  My kid could get a gig on the Disney Channel doing some brainless acting and make more than I will in a lifetime of trying to educate other people.   Who wins in a system where Americans now owe more than $150 billion in student loans?  The banks, not the citizens.