Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds on the Future of Higher Education and How Kids are Getting Wise to Student Loan Debt
"It's kind of a weird thing that's happened with American society'"this idea that you have to have a college degree to be a respectable member of the middle class," says Glenn Reynolds, professor of law at the University of Tennessee and purveyor of the popular Instapundit blog. Reynolds' latest work, The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education From Itself, looks at the higher education bubble and how parents, students, and educators can remake the education system.
Reynolds sat down with Reason TV's Alexis Garcia to discuss why Americans are spending more for a college education and how students are responding to increasing tuition costs. "Given how expensive it is to go to college, there has to be a return sufficient to make it worth the time and especially the money," Reynolds states. "You're seeing declining enrollment in some schools and you're seeing much more price resistance on the part of both parents and students."
The discussion also includes Reynolds' take on school choice, the upcoming elections, the current state of the blogosphere, and whether or not both political parties are necessary. Nearly a decade after Reynolds published An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths, the blogfather still remains optimistic about technology's ability to empower the individual and inspire grassroots movements.
Approximately 19 minutes long.
Click here to read Glenn's favorite work, Memorandum from the Devil by Arthur A. Leff.
Produced by Alexis Garcia. Camera by Paul Detrick, Zach Weissmueller, and Tracy Oppenheimer. After Effects graphics by William Neff.
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this idea that you have to have a college degree to be a respectable member of the middle class,
That's weird. I thought you had to be a union wage ape to be a member of the middle class.
Not quite. If it weren't for union wage apes, there would be no such thing as the middle class. I think that's the story.
This thing we call "higher ed" has become such a scam. They overcharge for extremely poor and worthless products, while the dopey students and their equally dopey parents simply continue to willingly pay.
I would greatly enjoy a massive lawsuit filed against each and every college for delivering a defective product.
While the rigor and quality of college education has certainly declined overall, I think "worthless" is a bit strong. Some people still get good value from a college education. And value is subjective, so its worth is up to the individual student (and parents if they are paying).
It's also worth noting that pursuing an education and pursuing credentials are two separate things.
Indeed. In a market system, I imagine most of the value of the credential would be based on educational institutions promoting and protecting their brand.
There's also the possibility of a private or set of private institutions for certifying higher-ed programs, courses, professors, what have you.
We have some of this now, as higher-ed, bubble aside, isn't as fucked up as K-12 education--not yet, anyway--but more would be better. And the price should probably be a tenth of what it is now or less.
That already exists at the institutional and departmental level. For example, our department has to re-cert every 5 years.
Yes, but I fear the process may be corrupted.
Thanks for linking to the Arthur Leff article. Awesome!
my roomate's mom makes $79 /hour on the laptop . She has been out of work for five months but last month her paycheck was $19158 just working on the laptop for a few hours. have a peek at this website.........
http://www.workbarr.com
That's all fine and good, Williams Maragret, but don't you agree that Glenn Reynolds is a war monger?
Let's see... 19158 / 79 comes out to about 242 hours per month or more than 60 hours per week. That's a lot more than "a few hours". You know, I expect you scammers to not speak English, but you could at least put in the effort to make up some reasonable numbers.
You're competing with Nigerian princes. Step up your game!
So your roommate's mom makes money doing lap-dances?
Enough about Epi's mom.
Honestly, the education bubble bursting will be a good thing in the long run. The insane encouragement of debt that it creates needs to end.
I'd like to visit the alternative universe where the U.S. has a free market in education to see what, exactly, the market price for a college degree actually is. For a marketable degree, that is.
Who will join me in reaping the bitter tears of unemployed leftist professors who have no marketable skills in the real world?
You know, if education were market-priced and not inflated to absurd--no, absurd is too tepid a word--surreal heights, then people could easily afford to take classes in all sorts of topics, including obscure ones. Not just at college age, either.
I stand beside you!
Brother!
Are you just suggesting that Critical Queer Theory is not a marketable job skill?
Even if it isn't a marketable career, if prices weren't so incredibly inflated, people could take such courses for a reasonable fee for, well, for lack of a better word, fun.
I'm suggesting that a lot of previously entitled pseudo intellectuals are perhaps going to be driving cabs and working cash registers for a living.
It's kind of weird that people pay them money right now to teach classes. The weird part being that students are paying through the nose for totally useless and unmarketable shit.
The overhead is huge, no self respecting business would ever build palatial buildings, luxury housing, maintain private parkland and athletic facilities, their own police departments. It is insane.
Unpossible. These people are questioning the power structures that oppress us all on a subconcious level. That invaluable service is worth six figures and tenure.
"A hard rain is gonna fall"
Turns out you look up nonsense on the internet for free. You don't need four years and $250,000 in loans.
"the education bubble bursting will be a good thing"
Only if it's allowed to actually burst. I fear that will not be the case.
Let it fail. Which is exactly what we should've done with the banks, GM, and any other industry that's been bailed out by government. Failure of mature, fucked-up businesses is ultimately a good thing.
VIDEO: New Numbers Show Coming Burst of Higher Education Bubble Federal Bail-out as Colleges See Drops in Enrollment
I'm just pleased to see that the 'you have other options' argument might be gaining traction.
More subsidies. MORE SUBSIDIES.
Also, charge any high school graduate truancy who skips out on higher education.
Make it so you can use IQ and other tests again without being accused of racial discrimination. Then it will be easier to get qualified HS grads who didn't waste their time in "higher" education.
What makes you think IQ is the best, or even a valid, predictor of future job success?
He did say IQ and other tests. But that's not the point. The point is that employers should not be restricted via judicial fiat from using IQ tests, aptitude tests, religious tests, height tests, or any other tests they wish for employment.
I agree.
But that wouldn't be fayer!
And it might not be. Just because someone designed a test, doesn't mean it's a fair test. However, if we're talking about a private institution, then if you think the test is not fair, you could always, you know, seek employment at another business that doesn't have that testing requirement. Or start your own business.
Freedom of association is so quaint.
Racist dogwhistles are racist.
Well, HM obviously just hates black people (and mixed race, mulatto and the heroic generally).
What makes you think IQ is the best, or even a valid, predictor of future job success?
No shit. Look at me as your cautionary tale on that.
Low IQ or useless employee?
This is just more proof, I tell you, that the Feds have to step up financial aid so more kids can afford college. Took the spouse out to lunch on Sunday in a nearby college town - all the bars and restaurants packed with kids but probably (snark) not those who have loans or need aid, who want free shit, or who would protest a modest
increase in tuition.
Well at least birth control pills will no longer come out of the jagerbomb fund.
Bailout. Too big to fail or some other bullshit.
Republicans will go along just to show they are not meanies.