Yay, College!

The intellectual rot of the modern University perverts and diminishes the works of its faculty and administrators, no matter how smart they are, no matter how well-intentioned they are. It is a rot that requires plagiarism and promotes antisemitism.

We require a new Reformation, and here are its theses.

Every once in a very great while, the direct beneficiaries of a yay-something narrative construction overplay their hand so egregiously, embarrass themselves so publicly, reveal their mediocrity so clearly, that the common knowledge propping up the yay-something narrative collapses.

This is the breaking of “Yay, College!”.

The modern American system of higher education - especially its most prominent public and private universities - is less our Superman than our Homelander, a smiley-faced faux superhero who does The Man's dirty work in exchange for wealth, privilege and ... our cheers.

ET contributor Brent Donnelly went out and asked some people he respects what advice they would give kids heading off to college. Here's what he found.

The student loan crisis is a Big Deal. And it is only a part of a Bigger Deal: the Myth of College.

This issue will be front-and-center in the upcoming elections. We will all be handed our very own 'Yay, College' signs to raise high. More often than not, we will be asked to raise them in service of market-distorting policies which will make our problems worse.

"Oh, little Jimmy is going to 20-Years-Ago-This-Was-A-Second-Rate-University? I hear really good things about that school. Congratulations!"

"Thanks! We're all very pleased. Everyone except my bank account, that is. Hahaha!"

It's true, everyone is VERY pleased by the current system. Prestige university credentialing is a steam valve ... \whispers\ just like elections.

I can't advise you on the Answers. I won't advise you on the Answers. But I will advise you on the Process. Because that's what we do for our fellow pack members.

The pecking order is a social system designed to preserve economic inequality: inequality of food for chickens, inequality of wealth for humans. We are trained and told by Team Elite that the pecking order is not a real and brutal thing in the human species, but this is a lie. It is an intentional lie, formed by two powerful Narratives: trickle-down monetary policy and massive student debt financing. Part 8 of the Notes from the Field series.