Obama has now called for “free”
community college if you meet certain standards. While this may sound great on
the surface, it really isn’t. The first glaring problem with it is that college
isn’t for everyone. “Oh, the president didn’t promise it for everyone,” you
say. If it’s offered for free today, it’ll be mandatory down the road, unless
you’re Amish* I suppose. Here’s why –
I’m a genealogist, so you can take
my word on this. Look it up if you like, but I’m not pulling your leg. School
never was mandatory in the country at one time. In fact, many kids only went to
school during the winter months when they weren’t helping their parents do
other work.
Then came along the standard of 8th
grade education. My great grandfather, Opal Keller, attended school in Walker,
Iowa and only completed the 8th grade. He went on to be a successful
adult. He was a Freemason, business owner, and never lived in poverty or on the
street. His brother and sister went on to complete high school, but that was
because Opal, being the eldest child, stayed home and did the work on the farm
so the younger kids could do this. Opal was no dunce.
Fast forward a few years and it
became mandatory in Iowa that you completed the 8th grade. That’s
how it was when I was in school in the late 80’s and early 1990’s. I had some
friends who never completed the 9th grade. All of them went on to be
successful. None of them live on the streets or are indigent. Well, at least no
more indigent than any other working stiff. Most of the people that I know who
dropped out of school went on to get GEDs when they had the time. It wasn’t
that they needed the GED to prove anything to themselves. Rather, it was to
appease future employers.
Let’s stop for a moment. Have you
ever wondered why employers love people who have high school diplomas? It isn’t
because they are smarter than anyone else. It shows that this person is
domicile enough to endure jumping through endless hoops in order to achieve a
paper certificate. You can get a high school diploma with all D minuses. It
doesn’t mean that you were smart.
In order to get a GED, you have to
show a certain level of intelligence. You have to get a much higher score than
you would in high school in order to earn this certificate. However, the stigma
that comes along with a GED or lack thereof is that you are somehow not willing
to endure the hoop jumping. That’s right. It says to your prospective employer
that if you get sick of things, you’re willing to leave. You’re not the
submissive type.
I cannot think of a single high
school dropout who was lazy and just sat to home doing nothing. In fact, every
single high school dropout that I knew, and I knew quite a few being one
myself, went to work. We got on with our lives. We got sick of having to ask
for a piece of wood to carry down a hall just so we could take a piss. We got
sick of feeling like a hog in a farrowing house. Your high school dropouts are
for the most part, free thinkers. They won’t jump off the bridge just because
everyone else is.
Since the days that I was in school,
things have changed. High school was optional for me. It’s not anymore. Now, in
Iowa, and in many parts of the country, high school is mandatory until you turn
16. If you’re a sophomore in school and turn 16 in February,
you have to complete that year. If you don’t, your parents can get in trouble
and they can pull your driver’s license. What was once optional has become
mandatory, because educators have assured lawmakers and the public in general
that the cause for all our troubles is a lack of education.
People are homeless? They lack a
proper education. China whipping our asses economically? It’s because we’re not
educated enough. Your sister got pregnant at 16? Not enough sex education. Come
on! You can’t expect everyone to believe that if you just keep getting
educated, sitting through never ending classes, that all the world’s problems
will be solved, can you? Well, the educators are sure trying, and succeeding.
The reason we as a society are buying this hook, line, and sinker, is because
we’re getting fewer and fewer free thinkers. We’re creating a society of mush
heads who just go with the flow and believe what they are told. Even if they
are unhappy, they’ve been conditioned to endure and not rock the boat. That’s
why we as a society are faltering. What made America greater than any other was
that we were a nation of free thinkers. We were a country made up of people who
“dropped out” of their home countries when things got bad and came here. The
ones who were mush heads stayed back in their home countries. Take a look at
Europe. All their free thinkers came to America and it shows! Now, instead of
fostering this free thinking spirit, we’re pounding square pegs into round
holes and punishing those who don’t wish to sit through boring classes and be
submissive.
This free college thing will of
course be optional today. But I have no doubt that the same education lobby
that has been the driving force behind making high school mandatory will
someday make these two years of college mandatory as well. I doubt that I'll live to see the
day, but my grand-kids probably will, and for that reason, I strongly oppose it.
After thought: Socialist and Communist countries
are the greatest proponents of cradle to grave everything. While I am a
supporter of certain things being socialized, higher education is not one of
them. Communist countries have a vested interest in keeping their populations
submissive. This is done through education. In North Korea, education never
stops, yet they are one of the most backwards countries in the world. They also
have one of the most submissive populations found anywhere. Please read the
entry on Wikipedia regarding education in North Korea and scroll down to the
last entry regarding adult education. North Korea has some of the best educated
garbage collectors in the world.
*Amish have religious
exemption from having to go to school past the 8th grade in Iowa.
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