Almost everyone’s complaining about the high cost of college tuition, but little is being done about it. Worse, writer Jeff Madrick takes a hard look at the value of a college degree given that institutions of higher learning are being forced to “operate much more like ordinary corporations, fearful of bad publicity, eager to stay on good terms with the government, and focused on their bottom lines…” (The Anti-Economist,” by Jeff Madrick, Harper’s, Sept. 2013 pg11.)
The money chase has its tragic-comic side as Madrick points out. Harvard’s attempt to broaden its funder base has produced some surprising alterations to its curriculum. Students of this bastion of liberal thinking are now exposed to the thoughts of Greg Mankiw, chair of the School of Economics and former adviser to George W. Bush. He teaches that the super rich get rich by “making substantial economic contributions, not by gaming the systems,” (Ibid. pg. 11) — a rosy idea someone should have shared with Goldman Sachs. Worse, Michael Jensen, also of Harvard, this time the Business School, is the author of the notion that large stock options for corporate executives are justified. Making heads of companies part owners, he proclaimed, would encourage them to grow the business. He was right. The new stakeholders promptly reduced employee wages or fired them in the pursuit of short term profits. (Ibid. pg. 8)
And let us not forget, Jason Rachwine. He received his Harvard PhD by arguing that Hispanic Immigrants “have lower I.Q’s than ‘native whites,’“ and that they were likely to prefer a welfare check over employment. (Ibid. 10.)
A year of learning at Harvard costs $65,000. Seeing what’s being taught, parents might well ask is the price worth it? Bill Gates didn’t think so nor did Mark Zuckerberg to name two.
(Courtesy of justjokes.tumblr.com)
