Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Feb. 11, 2003 / 9 Adar I, 5763

Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Debbie Schlussel
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Don't waste your money on an expensive college


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | Never have so many paid so much to so few for so little.

I refer here, of course, to American families' expenditures on college education.

But there is good news. A recent article in The New York Times about the mountain of education debt owed by college graduates -- an average of $27,600 -- reports that "fewer students than ever say taking out loans to attend college was worth it."

Americans have so long believed that it is necessary to spend a great amount of money on a college education that few ever questioned these skyrocketing costs. But with high paying jobs increasingly hard to find, many students now find themselves stuck with college loans that will take them many years to repay. There is nothing like financial pain to focus the mind on the question of whether one has received fair value for money spent. And regarding college tuition, the answer is usually a resounding no.

With very few exceptions, any tuition over $10,000 is rarely worth it. This is especially so for students in what is variously called the humanities, the social sciences (a term that is even more deceptive than the tuition), or the liberal arts. In the natural sciences, where students learn without being propagandized, a high tuition is far more often justifiable.

But for the student majoring in subjects such as English, political science or sociology, or in feel-aggrieved programs such as women's studies, students are paying enormous sums of money to be politicized by highly paid and underworked radicals.

The tragedy of contemporary American college education has been described in depth by the late scholar Prof. Allan Bloom in his best-selling book, "The Closing of the American Mind," by Professors Alan Charles Kors and Harvey A. Silverglate in their major work, "The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America's Campuses," and by many others.

Suffice it to say, therefore, that vast numbers of college students outside of the sciences learn too little, rarely have their minds opened and rarely learn to love learning. If you major in English, for example, you are far less likely to immerse yourself in studying Shakespeare than in deconstructing him and others dismissed as Dead White European Males.

Our colleges are dominated by "post-moderns" and other nihilists for whom seeking truth is regarded as a reactionary fraud, not an academic ideal. For these professors, deans and presidents, the primary purpose of the university is to mold students in their images -- people alienated from America and from God.

One extraordinary result was noted recently by Harvard President Lawrence Summers: the university has now become a center of anti-Semitism (as it has long been for anti-Americanism), the only such center in mainstream American life.

None of this used to matter to most American parents and students. But two significant changes are taking place.

First, awareness of the anti-American, morally deconstructed and simply foolish ideas (e.g., men and women are essentially the same; Islamic and Christian fundamentalists are moral equivalents) that saturate universities is finally seeping into the American consciousness. Second, Americans are also beginning to realize that one of the most widely accepted beliefs in modern life -- that it really matters what college you attend -- may not be true. For the most part, what college you go to doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

If you find that hard to believe, answer these questions: Do you know what college your most trusted physician or lawyer attended? Do you know what college the writers or clergy you most admire attended? Do you care? Did you choose your spouse or any of your friends on the basis of what college they attended? In other words, can you name one area of life where the prestige of a person's alma mater has mattered to you?

If you want to spend money on your college-aged child, try this: Pay him or her $5,000 or even more to attend a much cheaper college. You save money, your child makes money. And many radicals will have to seek productive work.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Dennis Prager hosts a national daily radio show based in Los Angeles. He the author of, most recently, "Happiness is a Serious Problem". Click here to visit his website and here to comment on this column.

Up


02/04/03: What the world would like the president to say
01/28/03: How memories paralyze: Why Jews and blacks vote Democrat, cont'd
01/21/03: Why Jews and blacks vote Democrat
01/14/03: Why the Arab world hates America --- time to myth-bust
01/07/03: Conservatives have talk radio; liberals have everything else
12/31/02: If you believe that people are basically good . . .
12/17/02: Lott, Clinton, and the problem of the career politician
12/10/02: The healthiest and longest living generation of humans since the 900-year-olds of Genesis are being scared silly
12/04/02: Morally neutral reporting is dishonest reporting
11/26/02: Understand Nigeria and you understand the Islamic threat
11/19/02: James Bond meets his most fanatical foe yet -- anti-smokers
11/12/02: Conservatives need to be more compassionate on divorce
11/05/02: Of course, the great majority of Muslims are peaceful -- so what?
10/29/02: Nice guys finish first: Thoughts on the World Series
10/24/02: A Jew defends evangelical Christians
10/16/02: Bigot laureate well represents New Jersey
10/11/02: Why the Creator must always be higher than the Angels
10/02/02: Loudmouth "stars" are remaining surprisingly quiet about Israel
09/25/02: Bob Greene is a good man
09/11/02: 9-11 made America better
09/04/02: What I learned at the Minneapolis Metrodome about liberals and homosexuality
08/28/02: Teach our college co-eds about Islam --- but teach them the truth
08/22/02: LET THEM EAT PEANUTS!
08/14/02: How the nuclear family became "controversial"
08/07/02: Every generation is tested by great evil
07/31/02: Those who curse the Jews and those who bless them . . .
07/24/02: Children should talk to strangers
07/17/02: Why my son's best friend is black
07/11/02: Why Hesham Hadayet may be scarier than al Qaeda
07/03/02: "Pro-Israel lobby" is not why America supports Israel
06/26/02: Why does the Left support the "Palestinians"?
06/19/02: The commencement address I would give
06/12/02: Why do adult children live with their parents? Because they actually like them
06/05/02: The stripper and the Christian school: Thoughts on what a Christian school should do when a parent is a stripper and on who the biggest sinner here is
05/31/02: Don't worry, New York, you are safe from a terrorist threat
05/15/02: A proud member of the world's two most hated peoples
05/10/02: What Israelis are saying
05/06/02: Thank Heaven for moral violence
04/29/02: Give back the Nobel Peace Prize: A letter to Elie Wiesel
04/22/02: Why so many students cheat
04/12/02: Is it 1938 again for the Jews?
04/05/02: It's the values, stupid
01/31/02: Smoke and lose your son
10/30/01: Why Arab/Muslim anti-Semites are worse than the Nazis

© 2002, Creators Syndicate