Answering Dr. Krugman

I read Paul Krugman's column in the New York Times frequently. I've long been an admirer of his, ever since he openly disputed George Bush's rationale for our ill-fated incursion into Iraq.

Today, he had a column about the growing worthlessness of a college education. He's right though I didn't think his analysis went far enough. So I sent my first letter to the editor of the Times today. It' a long shot that they'll print it so I thought I would give it space here.

To the editor:

Years ago at a social gathering, I got into a convesation with a Boston-based psychiatrist. We were talking about the subject of addiction treatment when I was startled to hear him say: "You know, we can't afford to win the war on drugs."

When I questioned his assumption, he replied: "Think about all the people who would lose their jobs if we won the war on drugs: rehab center staff, addiction treatment specialists, prison guards, the police, large swaths of the legal system. It just goes on and on."

I think about that conversation whenever I hear or read some politician or opinionator decry the demise of some large societal system or another. Which brings me to Paul Krugman's column in the NYTimes on Monday.

While I agree with Dr. Krugman's analysis, I don't think he went far enough. At this point, our country has more colleges and other institutions of higher learning than any other time in our history. And every one of those institutions has a vested interest in maintaining "the pathway to wealth is based on a good education" mythology.

Think of all the people with a vested interest in keeping education just as it is: teachers and professors, the fundraisers, the endowment babysitters, the alumni magazine staffs, college administrators, and the loan shark industry that preys on young people and their families with the hollow promise of what a good education brings.

Think I'm wrong? The burden of debt now carried by most recent college graduates ensures they will be debt slaves for decades after they graduate from the institutions of higher learning that promised them jobs in exchange for loans they couldn't afford to pay back. To me, the point of most higher educational institutions has become the maintenance of their own existence at the cost of the financial misery of their students.

Reform education? Not a chance, not while there are too many people invested in maintaining the now false promise of the rewards of a good education.