Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees: What Bernie Kids Don’t Understand – OpEd
Now, there’s something deeply troubling with the following tweet, and that goes into the heart of the problem we are facing today, not just in US but across the World.
First of all, who in their right mind borrows $226,000 dollars to study Speech Pathology, and then expect a bailout from taxpayers? I never borrowed ten dollars to study something, which doesn’t have job prospect, just because I am bleeding in my heart to help people, unless I am smart enough to get a scholarship.
@lindsayzissis telling me why she’s voting for #BernieSanders she’s $226,000 in debt for trying to help the world pic.twitter.com/oo2Z7q8nDv
— Shailene Woodley (@shailenewoodley) April 16, 2016
(Thankfully I always had, not because I am the smartest man in this planet, but in this volatile and fluid era, with chances of conflict between great powers increasing, which might result in massive death unless a grand strategy pattern is predicted, my research is in a field which analyses the aforementioned foreign policy patterns of great powers. Demand, meet supply.)
Look, it is simple economics, and here’s how it works.
Money doesn’t grow on trees, obviously. People pay tax, that goes as grants and scholarships to Unis, which goes to research, which are beneficial to the public, or which are in demand.
Now, if you follow Real-Peer Review, or have followed occasional chats between Dr Benn Steil and yours truly, regarding the staggering pioneering “research” that Real-Peer Review is documenting for posterity, when the World is no more, and aliens want to investigate why we wasted so much money on these research, while we could have, say, funded a settlement in Mars, then you will realize, the argument that research are beneficial to public is down the drain. (Dr Steil is of course the Econ expert here and not me, I’m just a simple Foreign Policy kid, Macro and global trade were my secondary subjects.)
There’s no way a research on feminist glaciology is in any way policy relevant (Or for that matter, a research on Lady Gaga). But still it gets funded, somehow. These studies and the academics related to these field, have known something…how to rig the system, by having a niche subject, forming an epistemologically incoherent approach, and publishing in niche journals, manned, edited and peer reviewed by their own ilk.
But, not everyone gets funded, especially starry eyed students, so they borrow and loan and study subjects like these or conduct research. Which brings us to the second question, one of choice and responsibility.
If I decide, for example to study and conduct research on post-structuralist interpretative dance therapy in pre-piracy Somalia, I am free to do so. No one’s stopping me. But after graduating with my deep, profound scholarship, if I don’t get a job and have to pull a pint all my life, because frankly, there is no job in that field, then I CAN’T BLAME SOCIETY, SYSTEM, PATRIARCHY or ANYONE AND ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER, but myself.
As Dr C H Sommers pointed out succinctly:
Which brings us to the final important point. The biggest problem is people seem to not understand the importance of Choice and Consequence. And that’s everywhere. You can’t give anyone any advice, on being thrifty, or careful, because everywhere, everyone is a victim. Victims of racism, casteism, classism, society, patriarchy, or the big bad “system”. Everyone wants protest, revolution, everyone wants to overthrow everything, but no one blames themselves. You cannot find a single individual these days, saying, man, I screwed that up royally, my fault.
If rarely someone does, they are vilified in public.
So, therein lies our failing as a society. You can blame China and India, without blaming yourself, but that doesn’t change facts. You can blame society for not having jobs, but that doesn’t change the forces of economics, and your choices and lifestyle. You are free to have tattoo in your face and purple hair, don’t expect to have a job. And remember, it is proven, only the super privileged, whine more.
And lastly, it is a high to feel like to be a part of some kind of revolution…everyone loves the idea of overthrowing the system. It’s when you lose your own head, literally, then you realize, perhaps democracy is not so bad after all!
This article appeared at Bombs and Dollars
The author could use a bit of makeup English language lessons. It is hard to understand his scribblings. While he has a point that people shouldn’t get into student debt for studying subjects that have no job prospects, these cases are the exception. The vast majority did things very sane and practical: they studied the subjects with the greatest job prospects. But there aren’t enough jobs even in engineering and IT and in the low level jobs for which no studies are needed beyond High School. And that is a problem. People cannot make the effort to study, at the cost of a loan, in hope that this will further their chances to get a job just to find out that even if they get a job, it doesn’t pay enough anymore to repay the loans. No, money doesn’t grow on trees. But knowledge can’t be found just from working menial jobs either. Society needs skilled employees. And that requires studying. Not to do so will not further either the individual nor society nor the business world. Which makes it very necessary that there be colleges that are tuition free.
The author wants to delegitimize Bernie Sanders’ call for tuition free state colleges with some extreme examples of non-business viable subjects and unreasonable amounts of borrowing. But these are the rare exceptions. Most students are all too aware what to study to increase marketability of their skills. And that also requires loans which then cannot be repaid because the business world doesn’t pay reasonable wages anymore. Meanwhile the author likely profited from free studies in his home country and now does research in England for which he gets paid at least a stipend. What makes him think that US students wouldn’t like also to have tuition free studies?
This is one of the many vilification articles of Bernie Sanders’ campaign and his call for a revolution by the people to insist on democratic justice, likely paid by the Hillary machine. Contrary to his foul mouthing, university studies are free of charge in most of the world except the USA, where colleges are privatized and cost around $65’000 per year per student. Because that is out of reach for many if not most – unless they accept loans – Bernie proposes to make state colleges tuition free, so that people from less wealthy parents can also study and better their future. That is only a very reasonable proposal and policy proposal by Bernie Sanders.
The author should give a bit more thought to what he puts out before he puts it out. He at best makes a fool of himself and his article certainly is not on a level of university.
It has always been the consensus of society that some not directly marketable studies are still desirable because they further culture and civilization. With the current impasse in the US, culture will be lost and capitalist concerns will take over even more of society. That is a very sad development.
It’s not a research paper of a University, it’s taken from a blog, you idiot…and it takes special kind of idiocy to lecture a researcher, from England, to improve their English.
Typical “Bernie bro holier than thou, I am the very best rest all you fool” attitude. Loser.
Victim-blaming Trumpist! Of course money grows on trees…every millionaire and billionaire has at least one in their backyards! Everybody knows that! You probably have one too! We demand a tree each! Give us Trees! Give us Trees! WHen our revolution succeeds you and all you other too-white tools of the oligarchy will get yours!