The Disaster of Eddication

My Girl Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) who, you will be delighted to know is

Congressmember for WA-07 and lifelong organizer for immigrant, civil, and human rights. Progressive Caucus Chair. Bold, unafraid, and a proud mom. She/her.

recently sent out the following tweet: 

Student debt cancellation is racial justice.

Student debt cancellation is gender justice.

Student debt cancellation is economic justice.

— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) April 16, 2022

Isn't she special!

I suppose that in progressive LaLa-Land, this pathetic effusion is considered part of the Fight for Justice. Naturally, I have already sent her -- my congress-critter -- a slashing email, reminding her aides and staffers that they -- as Ben Rhodes well said -- "literally know nothing."

But let us work backward from the student debt cancellation demand. As in,

• Why should college be so expensive that students need to borrow money? Can you spell Injustice?
• Why does the government encourage students to borrow money against their education -- that connot be discharged in bankruptcy -- when borrowing has traditionally been collateralized, and a student, with no work experience, has no collateral? Can you spell Injustice?
• What exactly are students getting from a college degree that they couldn't get with an internship or an apprenticeship? Can you spell Injustice?
• What exactly are most youngsters getting from high school? Can you spell Injustice?
• What exactly is so vital about elementary school that the educators have time for LGBT grooming? Can you spell Injustice?
• What exactly is the whole point of our education system, besides keeping youngsters from competing in the labor market with adult workers? Can you spell Injustice?

It happens that I've been reading -- accidentally -- a lot about how education used to be in the olden time.

First of all, the education of David Copperfield. First they sent him to a school owned by a Mr. Creakle, a failed hop-dealer. Then he was sent to work in a warehouse by the River Thames in London, Then he got to go to Mr. Strong's school in Canterbury. Then he was apprenticed to a lawyer at Doctor's Commons. Presumably this education has some echoes of writer Charles Dickens' own experience.

Then the education of Tom Tulliver in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss. Tom is the son of the miller Mr Tulliver, and Tulliver thinks it would be a grand thing for his son to get a real education. So he talks to a business friend, who recommends sending him to board with a curate in the country. Where he unwillingly learns Latin and Geometry.

Then the education of Benjamin Franklin. His dad sent him to grammar school (where you learn the Latin that you need for Harvard). Then changed his mind and sent him to an ordinary school for a couple of years to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. Then he apprenticed him to Ben's brother the printer for nine years. Then Benjy escaped to Philadelphia and worked for various printers before setting himself up as a printer.

Do you mind if I suggest that the brilliance of Dickens, of George Eliot, of Benjamin Franklin had nothing to do with their education?

And I wonder what education means in the lives of everyone else?

Really, what are we trying to do with schools and education? Bueller? Anyone?

Why exactly do we make such a big deal over a college education? Bueller? Anyone?

Suppose we say that the most important thing in education is to bring up the children of the poor. So why are the schools that the poor attend almost always the worst?

Why do teachers have almost lifetime employment? Shouldn't the people teaching our children be evaluated every ten minutes and fired if they don't measure up?

Why do we have government running education when government is all about fighting the enemy? What enemy?

Let us return to the empty slogans put out by the "bold, unafraid" Pramila Jayapal.

I get the vital importance of trolling indebted Twentysomethings by handing out Get Out Of Debtors Jail Free cards. But just where is your Five Point program to reform the disaster of our education system, noble Congressmember?

Starting with the question: why in the world do we prompt college students to get into debt?