Why "free" college isn't a good idea

This whole campaign platform of "free" college and forgiven student loan debt is a false promise. 

I can *almost* see some sort of partial debt forgiveness depending on your GPA (see below), career field, job placement, etc. Almost. But it'd be a slippery slope if the government starts attempting to pay off personal debt. Personal debt is the result of personal choices. If I had thought that the government was going to pay off my student loans, I would've went to a more expensive school. I knew I'd be saddled with loans on a (God-willing) teacher's salary, so I made the choices that reflected that fact.

Mortgages that are too high with too much interest or are upside-down are also a result of that student loan debt: people were buying houses 10 years ago that they couldn't afford, as soon as they got a real job, and then they have a too-high house payment on top of that student loan debt.

Because they've been busy paying off debt, they've been using credit cards. Is credit card debt forgiveness next?

To advertise "free" college is ridiculous. You can't promise that because someone. has. to. pay. for. it. There is no incentive to get yourself through college in 4 years, accruing as little debt as possible, if taxpayers are footing the bill. It's creating even more of an enabled population. I don't care if college is more expensive than it used to be; go to college for something you can actually use to get a job. If you major in English and hope to become a writer, that's your own fault. Major in English, become a teacher, and then become a writer. Find a job that will pay for your advanced degree if you want one.

We've become far too wishy-washy. I knew I wouldn't make a lot of money as a teacher. But I knew I'd be able to get a job eventually because it was an actual career path.

Higher education was never supposed to be free and accessible to all Americans. That's why you have to apply to college. Also, our public school system? Not great. I wouldn't use that as a jumping off point. Plus, it's not free. Taxpayers fund it and it differs from state to state and town to town and district to district. Also, maybe colleges should just stop paying their professors so much. 

I'm telling no one to work their way through college. Even 15 years ago, I couldn't have done that and costs have only gone up.
I'm telling no one to "learn a trade". Sometimes college is the best option, not trade school.
I'm saying that if you want to go to college, go to college for something that will result in an actual job. You know, learn to code or something.

I also saw something that said 18 year olds are going to college because "all the neighbors' kids are" and that's why new adults don't jump into the real world right away. Going to college is safe and keeps you under your parents' umbrella for a few more years. I get it. I did this. I even lived at home during college in order to save money and I had virtually no living expenses. That was a choice I made because I understood that college was expensive and I didn't want to spend my life paying it off. It would've been much more fun, I'm sure, to live on campus. It was hard to justify when the campus was only 40 minutes away, though.

But I also graduated with tuition loan debt and it was paid off within four years because of the choices Scott and I made after getting married. Scott graduated with more debt that me. It was also paid off within four years. We need to teach 18 year olds to look for careers, not majors.

When I mentioned this to Scott, he said Yeah, I paid your college loans off. True. We used the extra salary he received (combat pay, hazardous duty pay, separation pay) from his 11 months in Afghanistan in 2012 to pay off all of our loan debt. Of course, that was a choice we made. We could've bought new cars or shiny things or taken multiple vacations or just squirreled it all away in a savings account...and we'd still, to this day, be paying off both of our student loans each month, dragging it out and making it as painful as possible.

If you really want to make a case for pseudo-free college, perhaps, after college is said, done, and graduated, those who made it through with a 3.75 GPA or higher could have a portion of their loans forgiven.

THAT is incentive. You need to have some sort of skin in the game. "Free" college isn't a good idea because it's not requiring anything of anyone and is holding no one accountable or responsible for their choices.

Also. College? Not a basic need. That's the type of misleading language that results in everyone going to college to major in whatever they feel like because they feel like they should.

I did read every word of this proposal. It's...enlightening. 

Education Issues (S&T 2/9)

This was supposed to be a random confessions post today but ideas started popping into my head earlier this week and I figured I'd go on record. The too-long; didn't read version is: Just because you don't like what the current President is doing, don't think education is really an issue in this battle. It's been a problem for awhile and this is the first anyone is actually talking about it. 

I find it interesting that no one minded who the Secretary of Education was until a unpopular President handpicked someone for the job. Don't get me wrong: she is completely unqualified; the villain in the general overview of what our country is doing/could be doing with public education.
I haven't looked into her that much because, not only is it disheartening, it doesn't really matter. I know this is equivalent to sticking one's head in the sand, but who the Secretary of Education is isn't actually the point. The point is that our nation's educational system has been in a downward spiral for awhile.

I'm on the front lines. It's terrifying out here. Every state uses different measures of success. Every district uses different curriculum (because selling curriculum to schools is a business, plain and simple). And every school requires different criteria from its students. Plus, the current culture affects our educational system more than the label "Secretary of Education" ever could.

Truthfully, I don't fear DeVos. I don't like her, but I'm not afraid of what she will do (which will likely be nothing because I don't think she or the President really care about education).

I fear what will happen if the above-linked culture continues to run our schools. Things are already bad when it comes to testing, accountability on the schools' parts, etc. NO ONE takes poverty into account when it comes to ranking schools or rating teachers. Poverty is the root of the problem in our schools and until we solve poverty, schools will be in trouble. Poverty affects test scores, it affects how kids learn, and it affects what kind of money schools receive from the state. Each state has a different system for giving money to schools, so all states are NOT created equal. When I get students from out of state (in any state I've worked in, really), I never know where they're going to be. Parents often see the differences in schools right away.

Obama's administration actually did a lot of harm to the public school system, as teachers see it. The bar is not set high, and we're in trouble as a country. It's easy to blame any future implementation on an unqualified Secretary of Education, but things are already bad.

A former professor of mine posted this:

(Which came from this Facebook page.)

And for me to speak my peace/piece...For the record: 

• I do not believe in charter schools. Many are for-profit. If a district opens a charter school, that school funnels money from the public schools and can use it for whatever they want. There is not an accountability system. Charter schools operate within the district, but don't have to follow the rules of the district when it comes to money and testing. Most public school districts already offer school choice: as in, you can pick any school in the district to attend.
• I am a proponent of private education if you can afford to pay for it. I don't believe it's any better or worse than public schools. 
• I am a product of public schools, have only ever taught in public schools, and I believe in the system. I do believe that, out of the four states I've taught in, Alaska has it the most together. District-specific, though, the one I worked for in Missouri impressed me the most. 

And, in the end, I'm glad I have the ability and confidence to homeschool any future children we may have. Because I totally would. That's how confident I am in general about the current educational landscape in America. DeVos has very little to do with that.

And if you're here for Stuff and Things....