While the economy teeters because of defaults on high-risk mortgages, I would like to take a peak at the other big-ticket loan industry here in the states: Education. Along with owning your own home and having some kind of family, it rounds out this whole American-dream, pursuit-of-happiness thing that we’re all chasing.
As much as I would like to dismiss the bulk of these dreams as economic and psychological manipulation by “the man,” such judgment would be hypocritical because I’m educating the hell out of myself, and I truly hope to get one of those mortgages some day.
While we may not declare full-blown nihilism and denounce all things advertised, we need to see the lesson that the subprime mortgage crisis is trying to teach us about consumerism – something about not always getting what you want, and sympathy for the devil (thank you Mr. Jagger). The short of it is that we, as students, must approach education critically, because it is a consumer product.
The point of looking at it this way is that we’d be fools to think the education loan industry has not borrowed a few tricks from the home loan industry. I mean, look at us – we’re going to college like never before. And why? It’s a fear of failure, hope for happiness – and stellar advertising. Take this and then realize that our economy relies on people buying products they don’t actually need, or can’t afford, or both, and you’ll see education for what it is: a product for sale in a capitalist society.
This isn’t to say that we don’t need products – of course we do – especially homes and education. And I believe there is some truth in the claim that an educated individual with a stable home is less likely to resort to violence to affect change in the world, but I also believe that no amount of education or stability can guarantee either peace or a reasonable society. As a country we claim to be led by educated individuals, yet we often resort to violence and coercion in affairs both foreign and domestic.
What it means is that often education becomes just a fashion label that people throw out as a marker of status. “Nice Ph.D. Where did you get it?” “The University of Wyoming.” “Oh, mine is from Harvard.” People try to dismiss this trivialization of education, because it is so important in what we recognize as a “civil society.” But in truth the shallow social status of degrees and institutions often becomes more important than the individual’s experience of gaining a degree in education.
What if advertisements, your parents and school counselor all told you that to be successful in today’s world you needed to use a certain product for four to six years. Sounds familiar, right? Buying an education is what got you here. But instead of college, let’s say they promoted a certain skin cream that costs about $20,000 for one year’s supply. You could buy it, believe it, and possibly make it work- or you would be flat out incredulous that they would make such a claim.
So how about the four-to-six-year education product? Some people buy it in order to move on as quickly as possible, to have a great career and a fabulous life. Others buy it just to have it. You know – hang out, meet people, take cool classes and go to parties.
While the former view time and money spent on education as a serious investment in their future, the latter tend to view the years and loans as a seriously great way to spend life right now. After all, there are asteroids, viruses, car accidents and a global war, and we may not make it to graduation. So live it up while you still can.
But no matter how happily you are rushing through to get your degree, or not rushing at all – I savored my seven-year undergraduate career – you have to lose the fantasy that college and education will somehow magically transform you into a rich and successful individual. If you believe that, you’ll likely buy a Hummer because it will make you strong, or bottled water because it will make you healthy (and you’ll buy the books I’m going to write because they will make you enlightened and witty. Please buy my books).
But seriously, the fact alone that you are here is excellent, and you should stay until you finish your degree. We need a nation of critical, reasonable, and skilled individuals, ones who can communicate with each other, pay their mortgages and student loans off, and drive a stable economy.
What you should not do is just be here because someone told you to buy it. Buy an education because you know what it means to you. Whether you leave after a year or two – about one in five of you incoming students will – or stay for a decade or more, remember that true education encompasses life far beyond college. Arrogance and superiority, whether in the second grade or in graduate school, shows you’ve failed at the university of life, whereas a bit of humility and compassion is the most intelligent investment you can ever make.
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