University, Loans and Privilege

A few months ago, I read a fantastic article on Forbes.com entitled, “The Great College Hoax”. It discusses the fact that the educational version of the American Dream™ is letting a lot of people down. Education is more likely to pave the way to ruined credit, the poor house, and possibly a wasted four or five years than the public wants to admit. The article gave voice to what many of us university students wonder in our more pessimistic moments, “Is this going to be worth it?”

The comment section to the article proved to be just as interesting, though not in a positive way. It was the opinion of some that if a student cannot afford to pay for university out of pocket then they do not have a right to it and should get comfortable with trade jobs. I think that is an extremely classist statement for several reasons. I will admit that everyone is not college material. I also think that is okay. Some people are not cut out to be academics and they shouldn’t be shamed for that.

But this first reason rests on the assumption that rich is equal to intelligence. It is not. Just because a family has the money to pay for an university education does not mean that is the correct choice for the student. The former President George W. Bush is the epitome of that. The people rattling their class war sabres in the comment section would never suggest to a rich student that maybe going to university isn’t the best move, but that, say, becoming an electrician would be better. Not to disparage the intelligence of an electrician because that is dangerous and intricate work; one false move and you’re on another plane of existence. However, the amount of schooling isn’t as involved as becoming an accountant or historian.

There are many students who fall in between the cracks as far as financing university education is concerned. They are smart enough to get into college but not smart enough to receive a scholarship. Poor enough to need student loans but not poor enough to receive grants. I was one of those students and I will admit this is why the article’s comment section angered me and brings me to reason number two: Some students reach their stride in college, excelling beyond most expectations when, previously, they were mediocre.

I performed alright in high school and I had my preferred subjects and my hated ones and that was made abundantly clear on my grade reports. Moreover, I was bored out of my mind in high school and the teachers were either condescending or apathetic. This is not a friendly environment for a blossoming intellect and it is too often the norm in schools. While I went to good public schools, the format of instruction was not helpful to me. I have always found myself at ease in adult conversations, being the youngest in my family and so learned to converse and think on a level beyond my age group. So I disliked being treated like an idiot child by teachers who assumed that my age warranted such treatment. In university, my professors have treated me with the respect earned by a human being. I am able to voice my opinions and they sit and listen even if I may be wrong. Then we discuss. Discuss. Classes may be called lectures but they are conducted as discourses. This is what I needed all along.

Consequently, I have earned straight A’s several times, though not all the time, but I maintain a GPA ranging from 3.5-3.7 at my very expensive and very competitive and very private Catholic university. How many people can say that about their grades in college? But I actually feel engaged and part of my learning process. I even gained an appreciation for math that I did not have before and I earn better grades because of it. My troubles with math were always interesting because I have always loved science. All of them, especially astronomy. But if those commenters I mentioned had their way, I wouldn’t be in university.

Believing that students who come from families that don’t earn upper six-figure salaries (at least) do not deserve higher education sets up a caste system with little chance of upward mobility. I am sure that quite a few of them who made the suggestion would have no problem with this. There are many who come from families that are still upset that the unwashed masses, women and ethnic minorities included, have such relatively easy access to the very education that was used against them as the reason why they had to “stay in their place”.  The playing field is becoming more equal thanks to this college education and the system of privilege is being proven for the cruel hoax it is.

My final reason to protest the classist statement is the assumption that grades are equal to intelligence. Now, I just celebrated my GPA, which was certainly well-earned at this university. More important is the fact that I can actually tell someone what I learned in a discussion and not merely regurgitating facts stuffed down my throat in the classroom. That is intelligence. I received (because I certainly don’t feel as though I earned them) an A average at a previous school. I didn’t do much thinking, I just showed up to class and repeated what the instructor said the session before.Yes, I am independently intelligent of those grades but those classes were about as challenging as tying my shoes.

There are plenty of people with fantastic grades who are idiots but because they know enough by rote and can repeat it on a Scan-Tron or fill-in-the-blank test like a pseudo-intellectual echo does not spell intelligence. Yet, this is enough to earn them a scholarship and be acceptable enough for the class warriors setting the bar on who deserves education.

There is something very wrong with this mentality. There remains significant portions of Americans who are denied quality education. We still have racism and sexism and other negative -isms that prevent progress in this arena. To truly overhaul the inequalities, the funding and leveling must begin with kindergarten and work its way up. That crowd is also of the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” type and I will say that on occasion that is exactly what someone needs to hear. Let’s face it, there are some genuinely lazy people out there who’d rather play “the [insert social inequality here] card” than make an attempt to better their life; they are not in the majority, though. However, considering the social inequalities that remain in unacceptable frequencies, those affected are not lazy: they’re disaffected. Call someone lazy, dumb, sub-par enough and make certain they know what they are not receiving that others are and yes, the stupidity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But it doesn’t have to.

As a society we must celebrate intellectualism instead of deriding it as snobbery or only important enough to use for four years to earn a degree that will get you a job where you’ll progress very little in many decades but prevents you from living in the municipal park and fighting squirrels for food*. This is another aspect of the comment section that I found paired with the classist statements. Some of the same commenters derided liberal arts education as “unnecessary”.

We all know the joke about English and History majors and how they end up at McDonald’s flipping burgers. Again, another class statement because who doesn’t want a Quarter Pounder on occasion? Alright, a vegetarian. But, nonetheless, I do not disparage those who do the job that I don’t want to ever do. Anyway, yes, in this society those degrees can often go to waste. Instead of asking why students choose them, ask why this country does not provide more careers in those fields? It is the opinion of the anti-liberal arts crowd that the only degrees worth having are those in business, law or medicine. In the same way that not everyone is cut out for university, not everyone is cut out for those fields. It does not make them stupid or useless.

So many enter schools of business, law or medicine out of fear of “not having a job after college” or having a “useless” degree representing nothing but debt. There are doctors practicing medicine right now who would rather paint, lawyers who’d rather wax philosophical about Epicurus versus Aristippus versus Mill and businesspersons who would rather read Civil War documents than a Statement of Cash Flows.

Blind Faith Patriots who believe America is the best country ever, and woe to those who protest that, yet want to deny their countrymen opportunity are hypocrites. We’re supposed to be the land of opportunity…oh sorry but not for you because you don’t have enough money to pay for school? America is better than the worst but it has a long way to go. We will never get there by denying a basic tool for success to the general populace.

*I actually saw a man fighting a squirrel over a chicken leg in the park. It was sad, funny and scary all at the same time.

(Cross-posted at Voluptuous Libertine and EscortBlogs.net)