Remedial Class Struggle

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Doug replies to Frances Bolton (PHI):
>>In Fl the ruling class is not saying that there are too many people in
>>college.  Actually, they are saying that we need way more college grads.
>>Universities are expanding and new ones are opening. Since only 17% of the
>>FL population has a college degree (source for this statistic--a guy at a
>>sandwich shop), there aren't people to fill those "technical/managerial"
>>elite positions. Makes the new tuition policy all the more inexplicable.
>>I guess they are trying to cut costs by getting as many people to do time
>>at a community college before going to university.
>
>They *say* they want a more educated workforce, but do they come through
>with the scratch? No. If it were really as urgent as the thumbsuckers say,
>the money would be there. Not to quote myself or anything, but when they
>complain about a "skills" shortage, what they're really complaining about
>is an attitude problem - insufficient self-sacrificiing, prosocial (i.e.
>pro-employer) behavior.

The ruling class argument that 'post-industrial' economy (or whatever)
needs 'more + more educated workforce,' what with computers and other tech
fetishes, is merely an ideology. This is an argument that is designed to
blame the unemployed/underemployed/low-wage workers for their alleged
'education' deficit. This ideology also serves to make workers accept that
they--not employers--are responsible for job training.

And if more college grads get actually produced, it will merely contribute
to the credential inflation, where the positions that used to require, say,
only high school diplomas would demand bachelor's degrees.

Also, if universities are in fact expanding in Florida, it's probably
because with more college grads in the labor market, capitalists think that
they can depress the wages/salaries of the middle strata and/or 'improve'
the attitude of future employees.

Also, with less and less state funding, colleges + universities are
retooling themselves to become the Edu Serv, Inc. where students will be
treated as consumers of education services. Pretty soon 'student
evaluation' might be renamed 'customer satisfaction survey,' which would
ask questions such as: "Did your instructor treat you with courtesy?"; "Was
the service prompt and efficient?"; "How do you rate the production value
of classroom experience?"; and so on. College presidents will be called
CEOs. Tenure? A thing of the soon-to-be past.

I don't see any 'skills shortage' in the USA. Besides, there is an
overabundance of highly educated people all over the world, especially in
the formerly 'socialist' countries and Asia. The US ruling class can always
import them or subcontract work abroad (if it's tech work).

Yoshie