"President Obama wants everybody to go to college. What a snob."

[abaez]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NkjbJOSwq3A

President Obama wants everybody in America to go to college, what a snob. There are good, decent men and women who work hard every day and put their skills to the test that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor. And trying to indoctrinate them.

God I hope he wins the nomination.

 

[Karl Agathon]

I realize he has to appeal to his base, but at times, he sounds like he's batshit crazy!!! At least a few weeks ago, he was talking about other things like bringing back jobs to America etc. Seems like he's done a complete 180. Did I mention he sounds like he's batrshit crazy?

 

[Jhhnn]

I'm not sure Obama actually said that, & yeh, Santorum is desperate & half crazy, like much of the Repub base he's pitching to...

 

[wirednuts]

i think its pretty brutal that we already force our children to go through 12+ years of industrialized programs built mainly to train them to wake up and do what theyre told every day. maybe we could focus on the public school systems and if we fix that more kids might WANT to go to college.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I don't see how wishing that everyone would go to college is being a snob. It's the opposite. A snob would say, "Only the smartest 10% should go to college."

What Obama is really doing is mouthing touchy-feely warm-and-fuzzy rhetoric that makes the sheeple feel good. Almost every (if not every) politician (and intellectual and journalist, etc.) supports increased college enrollment and more and better higher education in some sort of a way. Obama is far from unique in those regards.

Unfortunately, in reality only 10-15% of all jobs that need to be done actually require and make use of a college education. Consequently, that means that a large number of college graduates will end up underemployed-and-involuntarily-out-of-field (while harboring feelings of shame and frustration and being burdened by student loans). Of course, our "no-think" politicians, economists, and intellectuals are oblivious to that fact. They share a belief that higher education will make college-education-requiring jobs magically materialize into existence for all the college graduates. So, in their view, if we were to triple the number of engineering graduates, the number of jobs for engineers at currently prevailing wage rates would also triple.

Why do our politicians and intellectuals like to advocate more and better higher education when excess and unused higher education damages our economy***? Because the sheeple drink up the message like Kool-Aid at Jonestown. The thought of higher education and the opportunity for economic class advancement for all gives the masses warm-and-fuzzy feelings!

For politicians, free market "no think" economists, and intellectuals, it's easier to say, "Higher education will solve our economic and unemployment problems" than it is to say, "We need to address our problems with foreign outsourcing, H-1B and L-1 visas, and mass immigration." Real solutions to our problems are nasty and mean and they are not touchy-feely.

***When our society invests years of young people's lives and huge amounts of money in higher education that doesn't have any real value, it hurts our economy because it means that resources and human effort are being wasted to produce and pursue a service (excess and unneeded higher education) that has no actual economic value. Those same resources and human effort could have instead been used to produce a tangible and needed good or service that has real economic value. Furthermore, impoverished "educated indentured servants" who are burdened by student loan debt will spend less money and can't afford to buy houses. (Presumably student loan debt is contributing to the housing crisis. Instead of paying off mortgages people are paying off mortgage-sized student loans when they work jobs that don't require or make use of a higher education.)

 

[BarneyFife]

I'm not sure Obama actually said that, & yeh, Santorum is desperate & half crazy, like much of the Repub base he's pitching to...

I was floored when I saw the video of that earlier tonight on the local news. He is off his rocker. Whats even more pathetic is the Republican base was cheering him. They will talk about eliminating education and its brainwashing kids. The base will cheer him while the elite Republicans are giggling at how moronoic they are. This is no different from 5 years ago where they unemployed Republican factory worker was losing his job to the Chinese and was still voting Republican even though the Republican politicians where for outsourcing and claiming it was free market at work. Now its different... Its education they are going to attack. Lets further dumb our base down.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Given how deplorable pre-college education is and now we are talking about everyone going to college? What.

 

[Matt1970]

We will be back to Mitt Romney in no time now.

 

[woodie1]

So many of our high school graduates can't read or write coherently it seems they'll should continue their education just to make it to that level.

 

[sportage]

Keep um barefoot, PG and stupid. Or whatever that saying is...
I can't remember, me'd dudn't get no high fangled kollege skoolin.
N me didn't turn out so bad...

GO SANTORUM !!!

 

[Siddhartha]

Mr Santorum has a near fatal case of NObama. NObama is automatically being against anything Mr Obama supports and achieves. The Republicans have a speed of light reflex of NObama.

Now Mr Santorum is against everyone having an opportunity for higher education. Anybody remember the House Republicans being against extending the payroll taxcut?

 

[mammador]

In principle, it makes sense. A better educated population leads to a more productive economy, and hence higher economic growth.

but not all jobs require a college education, or that degree of learning. Should being a burger griller at Burger King require a university degree? Or being a street sweeper? 50% should go to university, but not literally everybody.

 

[IBMer]

Apparently Santorum hasn't heard of the many religious colleges that might not be so Liberal.

 

[nageov3t]

I hate Santorum with the fire of a thousand suns.

but, it is a bit snobbish to have the attitude that everyone should go to a 4 year college (regardless of what they actually want to do with their life and if they need a 4 year degree to do it), and look down on those who chose the community college, trade school, or apprenticeship route instead.

the problem is that Obama has, in fact, worked to pass legislation encouraging trade schools and community colleges as alternatives. the real problem is with the education industry, especially at the high school level, where schools brag about the rates of graduates going on to 4-year schools and trade schools/community college's are looked down on.

 

[shortylickens]

College sucks and is hideously overpriced considering how little real value you get from it.

As for the Obama issue, his excuse for letting 11 million criminal invaders stay here is they are freeing us up from menial tasks so we can go to college and get better jobs.
As if being too busy with a minimum wage indenturement is the only reason so many people arent attending higher education.

SCHOOL COSTS MONEY, MORON! Of course in his utopia the government will provide free everything, including college. Shame he wont be around to make that utopia.

 

[FuzzyBee]

I'm all about education, but, frankly, there are kids that don't belong in college. Should we cause them (or the nation) to incur more expenses in the forms of college loans just to say we have a higher percentage in college?

College is a privilege. Going to college is something that it earned. Why should you go to college if you don't have any desire to? So we can have a class of people that won't work menial jobs because they've "been to college", yet can't afford to pay off their loans?

 

[Jaskalas]

So many of our high school graduates can't read or write coherently it seems they'll should continue their education just to make it to that level.

Then you don't need a college to do that, you leave them in a high school.

 

[Svnla]

Didn't we have enough sob stories from morons that went to college to study "sewing", "music appreciation" and such with hundreds of thousands in student debts and could not find a job and then want their student debtbs to be forgiven?

 

[BarneyFife]

College sucks and is hideously overpriced considering how little real value you get from it.

As for the Obama issue, his excuse for letting 11 million criminal invaders stay here is they are freeing us up from menial tasks so we can go to college and get better jobs.
As if being too busy with a minimum wage indenturement is the only reason so many people arent attending higher education.

SCHOOL COSTS MONEY, MORON! Of course in his utopia the government will provide free everything, including college. Shame he wont be around to make that utopia.

You're a straight up moron. College sucks, little value, blame the immigrants. The Republicans love idiots like yourself. I'm guessing you're a loser in life and its all the fault of immigrant fruit pickers taking your hard earned tax money and going to school blah blah. Its a shame this country has a percentage of trailer trash morons.

 

[Slew Foot]

Given how deplorable pre-college education is and now we are talking about everyone going to college? What.

 

[IBMer]

I hate Santorum with the fire of a thousand suns.

but, it is a bit snobbish to have the attitude that everyone should go to a 4 year college (regardless of what they actually want to do with their life and if they need a 4 year degree to do it), and look down on those who chose the community college, trade school, or apprenticeship route instead.

the problem is that Obama has, in fact, worked to pass legislation encouraging trade schools and community colleges as alternatives. the real problem is with the education industry, especially at the high school level, where schools brag about the rates of graduates going on to 4-year schools and trade schools/community college's are looked down on.

He didn't say "I want everyone to get a 4 year degree". Many people concider trade schools and community "college" to be well, "college"

 

[nageov3t]

He didn't say "I want everyone to get a 4 year degree". Many people concider trade schools and community "college" to be well, "college"

hence my last paragraph

imo, there's definitely a problem in the overall educational system with teachers/guidance councilors looking down on CC/trade schools and encouraging everyone to go to 4 year colleges (regardless of their life plans), but Obama is not a part of that problem and has, in fact, pressed for community college initiatives.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Pandering to those who are too stupid to pass a college entrance exam - brilliant

 

[Rainsford]

In principle, it makes sense. A better educated population leads to a more productive economy, and hence higher economic growth.

but not all jobs require a college education, or that degree of learning. Should being a burger griller at Burger King require a university degree? Or being a street sweeper? 50% should go to university, but not literally everybody.

And if Santorum had made THAT argument, he might have had a point. But instead of making a reasonable argument about why maybe everyone doesn't NEED to go to college, he took the anti-intellectual, faux outrage approach.

 

[Rainsford]

hence my last paragraph

imo, there's definitely a problem in the overall educational system with teachers/guidance councilors looking down on CC/trade schools and encouraging everyone to go to 4 year colleges (regardless of their life plans), but Obama is not a part of that problem and has, in fact, pressed for community college initiatives.

It definitely is a problem. I think it's holdover from the days when getting a college degree in anything helped your job prospects quite a bit. For many people though, learning a trade might be a better approach than just kind of drifting through a 4 year college to get a degree in something that doesn't really help you at all.