ARE WE APPROACHING A NUMBER OF BREAKING POINTS IN THE "CRISIS" OF EDUCATION?  I don't like the word "crisis."  It's overused.  But I do think we can safely use it in describing the overall crisis in American education.  Rarely do we find an area in which so many components have gone so wrong so quickly.

In his race for governor of Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin made a parents' revolt against failing schools the centerpiece of his campaign, and flipped Virginia red.  He hit a sensitive political nerve, and voters responded.

But the crisis in education involves much more than state-run public schools.  It was first publicly identified, as early as the 1980s, in colleges and universities, where students who thought they were getting a first-class liberal arts education found they were getting a lifetime dose of racial division, topped by a generous serving of anti-Americanism.  That has gotten much worse.

Now we are seeing a serious increase in speeches and articles dramatically questioning the investment that families make in "higher" education.  The market is starting to work.  From Fox: 

The exorbitant costs of attending college sets students up for failure — and higher education is often a "scam" and unnecessary in some fields, a writer and researcher on market influences and monopolies said.

"I think that the financial aspects of college or higher education have overwhelmed the ability to create a citizenry on a very basic level," Matt Stoller, a research director at the American Economic Liberties Project, told Fox News. "This is kind of like a slow-burning crisis that we have to look into."

The average cost of going to a private college — including tuition, fees, books and room and board — went from $2,930 per year in 1971 to $51,690 in 2021, according to data from the nonprofit group College Board. Nearly a third of parents and students believe that college is overpriced, according to a recent Sallie Mae and Ipsos study.

"The Columbia Journalism School is sort of in an existential crisis because they have a nine-month degree that costs $120,000 and they're like, ‘Are we the problem?’" Stoller said.

"Yeah, you guys are the problem. You're not the only problem. You're more of a symptom."
Stoller also sees elite institutions' high prices as a moneymaking scheme.

"There is a scam there," he told Fox News. "I haven't been able to figure out what that scam is."

"That's what's causing this problem," he added.

Undergraduate enrollment declined by over 650,000 students — more than 4% — from the spring of 2021 to 2022, according to a report by the National Student Clearinghouse.

"I think that schooling exists to make citizens and to build a moral, self-governing society. Also, it's there to let you get a job and build a life," Stoller said. "I think that we're falling down on all counts of that, and we have to look at why that is."

Colleges are "such a mess in terms of administrative bloat" and are "saddling people with a lot of debt," he added. "You can't come out of a school with lots of debt and be a good citizen — you are now a dependent of someone else."

Stoller also questioned the necessity of some degrees, like journalism. The high cost associated with journalism school, he said, "shows that it's just a credentialing mechanism for a social class more than it is like a practical way to think about free expression in a democracy."

COMMENT:  Many are actively questioning the value of the bachelor's degree.  Is it really needed?  Is much of value taught by over-politicized "professors"?  Would most students be better off going into career training or apprenticeships? 

Those questions were once rarely asked.  Now they are becoming routine.  I'll be on the lookout for developments in this area.  Don't be shocked if some colleges close or others cut whole departments.  Already, many history departments are being abolished.

A revolution is in the air.

December 27-28, 2022