For those still confused how Donald Trump was elected President, I refer you to the opinion column by Michael McDowell in the March 13, Florida Today.
McDowell is President ‘Emeritus’ (meaning ‘retired’) of a university.
His column refers to “studies” allegedly “proving” that without a college degree you will lead an ignorant, unhealthy, impoverished life, during which you won’t pay enough taxes, and then you will die younger than college grads. According to McDowell, if you don’t get a college degree, your shortened life won’t be worth living.
Such elitist arrogance is why Trump won. The majority of American’s, who don’t have college degrees, who actually make this country run, don’t like being looked down on as ignorant losers (or “deplorables”?) by academic snobs. Trump tapped into that anger at the elitists.
But it’s not just those who lack degrees who are appalled by McDowell’s condescension. I’m equally offended by it – and I’ll match my educational or professional accomplishments against his any day. In my opinion, McDowell’s attitude is what is insidiously destroying this country.
I was hired to teach in law school because of my actual experience in courtrooms. When I was teaching I emphasized the ‘real world’ over academic theory. But overcoming the distorted reality inflicted on some of my students as undergrads was a significant hurdle. The best among them were the older ones, pursuing a second career, who had the life experience to recognize academic BS.
Teaching law students enlightened me about contemporary college education in the non-sciences. Modern American undergrad universities are academic Potemkin villages. Non-science college curricula have been dumbed down to near uselessness, replaced by ‘woke’ indoctrination artificially sustained by grade inflation. Professors typically tell students what to think… and reinforce it with biased grading. Intellectual curiosity, free thinking, and free speech are virtually non-existent. Enstupidation is endemic.
Our public schools push every student toward college because those schools are infested with graduates of college education departments. College is seen, by them, as the finishing school for the progressive indoctrination begun in our public primary and secondary schools.
I again experienced the problem, as a guest speaker at Eastern Florida State College. In front of the class, the professor asked me several clearly agenda driven question based on inaccurate facts. When I corrected him, or my responses didn’t support his agenda, he attempted to spin my words for the students.
Those like McDowell with a vested interest in the college education industry will howl at my opinions, rather than engage in critical introspection as to why a product of that industry (me) views them so negatively. Their snobbery about the imagined worth of their own “higher education” breeds deluded self-importance.
There are alternatives to attending college as a pathway to a successful life. Upon graduating high school my younger brother went to work in our father’s business. By age 21 he acquired master certificates in plumbing, heating, and air conditioning. Even with my law degree, it was years before my income matched his – and he never incurred any student debt!
So I’m telling my grandchildren to forego college in favor of learning a trade, or simply getting a job starting at the bottom, and working their way up. Without college, my granddaughter is doing just that, advancing with a company that promotes from within. She has no student debt and is buying a home.
My grandson joined the Marine Corps which has trained him in electronic maintenance. At the end of his four year enlistment, aside from getting paid the entire time (and keeping incredibly physically fit), he will have at least a two-year associate of science degree and years of practical experience. Veterans with tech skills are more desirable employees than inexperienced college grads with a four-year degree.
Kids… Learn a trade! Get a job! You can be just as happy without a college degree.
Contributing to society as a tradesman, truck driver, or electronic maintenance tech will be far more useful and important than being a PhD college professor of gender wokeism or some other such nonsense. And you won’t spend your life paying off student loans.
Above all, I advise against college unless the student has a specific goal, such as nursing or engineering for instance, rather than simply getting a degree. Even then, don’t go until you have enough real world experience to call out professors who try to BS you.
That delayed path enhanced my education. And I deflated some academic egos in the process.
Gary Beatty lives between Florida and Pagosa Springs. He retired after 30 years as a prosecutor for the State of Florida, has a doctorate in law, is Board Certified in Criminal Trial law by the Florida Supreme Court, and is now a law professor.