Young Americans are piling the blame for their student debt balances on conservatives, according to a poll by Generation Lab provided exclusively to Axios.
Young Americans are piling the blame for their student debt balances on conservatives, according to a poll by Generation Lab provided exclusively to Axios.
They went to college likely because we have an increasingly specialized culture where people have the not entirely inaccurate perception that you will struggle to live otherwise. They made a calculated risk with the expectation that they would be able to catch up with it down the road. When people take out loans do they always know what the future holds with 100% certainty? Obviously not. If they did, then they likely wouldn’t need the loan to begin with.
In short, I think this has nothing to do with wisdom. It has everything to do with inaccurate cultural conditioning and a rapidly worsening economic outlook for subsequent generations. To put it all on the students is short-sighted and misses the point I think.
Your sentiment has some merit. Yes the school system and the banks are corrupt no doubt. But you lose me on the wisdom part.
It’s like watching those Disney cartoons where the bad guy is putting on the nice act. Sure you’re behind the fourth wall and it’s obvious as fuck the protagonists are being played…
But we are behind the fourth wall on this issue. We know it’s a scam and a scheme. It’s unwise to sell yourself into long term debt. If you are average keep out. If your brain is a super computer and is full of wrinkles you may proceed. That’s my best advice. Sorry. Just reality.
I agree with the notion that school is too expensive and that much of the cost has nothing to do with education. I also agree that college shouldn’t be necessary for every person, if they’re not interested or not suited to it for whatever reason. I personally found college to be a waste and that my own curiosity is more than enough to educate me.
But I think our current reality isn’t the only possible reality or a natural conclusion. I think it’s precisely the product of what we’ve allowed to happen by not treating education as a personal and social good that should have next to nothing to do with profit. The issue of individuals perhaps taking out more debt than they can later afford to pay back is a product of a broken society much more so than a personal character flaw or a lack of wisdom. The latter is a minor aspect of a much larger and more serious problem.
It’s like if someone gets injured while being careless and they go broke treating the injury. The carelessness is a factor, but it’s hardly where our focus should be in terms of the bigger problem.