[lbo-talk] A Modest Proposal (Re: America No. 1?)

[Michael Dawson]

> Sometimes, though, I think that education might actually improve if
> it was sold on the model of tropical cruises.  Students or parents or
> the government pays for degrees (paid in a lump sum or installments),
> depending on students' financial statuses.  The payment guarantees a
> degree, regardless of how many or how few courses a student takes
> (it's like a tourist paying for the entire cruise package regardless
> of how many meals she actually consumes).  And absolutely no grading.
> The only requirement for students is that they are NOT allowed to
> work for wages while in college (the government pays modest but
> adequate living stipends to all students who need them), for a
> minimum of four years, the main point being to take young people out
> of the labor market (which, like old age pensions that allow workers
> to retire, should have a happy effect of forcing real wages up) and
> give them completely free time to do what they want.  Naturally, only
> students who are truly motivated to study, for their burning love of
> knowledge, show up in your class.  Students are happy -- some just
> carouse, many date and mate, a select few study hard (because they
> love to!), and yet others do politics full-time.  Teachers are
> ecstatic -- no deadwood in a classroom!  :->
> --
> Yoshie

OMG.  Disaster AND total implausibility.