On Dec 4, 2011, at 9:14 PM, Michael Smith wrote:
>> Since Rohatyn first insisted on tuition at CUNY, the bourgeoisie has
>> been very clear on its higher ed strategy: make it more expensive.
>> What do they know that you don't?
>
> This characteristically smart-alec question suggests at
> least two alternative smart-alec answers:
>
> 1) Nothing.
>
> 2) You tell me.
>
> Footnote: using 'the bourgoisie' as the subject
> of an active verb in a finite tense is an almost
> certain way to darken counsel.
Oh really? That's curious. Would it have been any more precise if I'd said "political leaders and policy intellectuals and others with power over public finances"?
You're really funny when you accuse others of being "smart alecs." What I'd tell you is that they view education, like health care and a basic income, as something one shouldn't have by right but only by work and sacrifice (or borrowing, which amounts to the same thing with interest). Thinking otherwise is like socialism, and to be repressed. As Rohatyn himself said, imposing tuition at CUNY was of little fiscal impact but was important for "the shock value." It was one of the prominent features of the overture to neoliberalism that was the NYC fiscal crisis.
It's always amusing when highly educated people demean the importance of formal education for others.
Doug