I thought of calling this post "welcome to the party" or "It's about time", but it would just get lost in the ether. The NY Times, the largest and most sycophantic serf in the Government Media Complex (in addition to hemorrhaging cash), had an article today on the benefits / trend among young people on NOT going to college. The "paper of record" just set the world record for being behind the curve. When you've eschewed the mainstream, as I have, the 'not going to college' idea is an old one. Actually, the idea of not attending school at all - getting home schooled or getting much of your degree via the web has been a major tenet of the groups that have been constantly ridiculed for quite a while. From the article: "“College is training for managerial work, and the economy doesn’t need that many managers,” said Michael Ellsberg, the author of “The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won’t Learn In College About How to Be Successful.”" Good for you Mr. Ellsberg. Now that you've come this far why don't you go a little further. John Taylor Gatto has been saying that not only is school not preparing you to be successful, it is training you to be a manager who slavishly follows orders and maintains the fallacy of ad verecundiam or ad populum. This keeps the status quo going and one is NOT to venture outside of it.
You know when the mainstream media publishes an article like this that the ideas of the 'lunatic fringe' are catching on. Our Overlords, the Great Makers of Public Opinion, apparently realize that they will look impossibly foolish by ignoring massive trends - however uncomfortable they may be writing about them. Sending students in for four years of parties and foolishness for a price tag of $100,000 in debt is complete insanity. Even if a young person is serious, the price tag is absurd. Jim Altucher writes about this quite often, and he is mentioned in the article, as is Peter Thiel. Guess what? Altucher is a regular contributor to Lew Rockwell's site, and Thiel was the biggest contributor to Ron Paul's campaign. Naturally, these facts are not included in the article. Gary North has been hacking away at the Government School Complex and promoting homeschooling for at least three decades. Since I've broken from the mainstream and become much more of a libertarian / voluntaryist, I recognize how far behind the curve I was for 35 years. Perhaps it's time you ventured outside of the cozy box that was built for you during the 15,000 hours of indoctrination that is organized School.
Naturally much of the fun with an article like this is the criticism of an heretofore unorthodox idea. Here is an example of Mainstream Bleat: "Such opinions have met considerable headwind. Jacob Weisberg of Slate pounded Mr. Thiel over his “nasty” idea, which he argued is “diverting a generation of young people from the love of knowledge for its own sake and respect for middle-class values.”" Do you understand this comment? I don't. First of all, the idea is 'nasty'. Of course, there is no explanation of why it's nasty or in what way. Secondly, students are at the university not for 'knowledge for its own sake' but to get a diploma, because they think it will lead to a good job. Mr. Weisberg, obviously a gatekeeper who is unable to grasp new ideas, has it backwards. I have no comment on the 'diverting a generation away from middle class values'. What are 'middle class values' and are they only learned in college?
The web is changing everything about education. More people are realizing that a college diploma is not worth the debt load and that a diploma does not equal intelligence OR education.
Useful sites:
https://www.libertyclassroom.com - - (requires a subscription)
http://www.khanacademy.org - - arguably the site that breaks the Academic Cartel
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com - - the authority as to the origins of school and why it is engineered to fail.
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm - - go to MIT - for free. Yes, you read that correctly.
How to Become a Libertarian - a 30 day reading list.
http://mises.org - the best place to go to learn free market 'Austrian' Economics.
Food for thought - this is a 'radical' video now. I predict that in 10 - 15 years it won't be.
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