It won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows anything about me that I'm a big advocate of learning as much as possible. I've been a teacher for all of my adult/professional life and I have one high school, one college, and three Master's degrees. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been able to take advantage of so many educational opportunities without accruing massive debt.
While I feel my good fortune, I believe that getting educated isn't beyond anyone's means. I think back to when I lived in Michigan and was working full-time and taking night classes at the local community college to work toward my teaching certificate. Was I exhausted? Yes. But could I sustain that schedule as long as I needed to earn the necessary credentials and pass the required test? Also yes.
And here's a fun fact: the more elite a school is, the more likely it is to have the means to provide scholarships to those who need them. Even if the government takes billions of dollars away from Harvard, for example, that university can still offer need-blind admissions and aid to students who cannot pay for it.
I get frustrated when I hear people talking about not following what the "educated elite" want for our country. How, I wonder, can someone convince people that learning more about how systems work would ever be a bad thing? I find it distressing that people believe that those with higher levels of education don't want what's best for everyone. I wonder how to combat that mindset. And even if some folks believe that going to school gives people unfair advantages, why wouldn't they want to work towards having those advantages for themselves and their families?
Not all states' community colleges are free, but all have scholarships and programs to make them accessible to everyone. Am I being Pollyanna to believe that higher education isn't beyond the reach of any American willing to put in the time and effort? Going to school doesn't make a person elite, but it does enable one to distinguish between lies and the truth, between fact and fiction, between helpful and harmful.
And if the majority of voters gained that ability to discern, we might have different systems in place than we do now. It's to the advantage of the power-hungry and evil to convince people to vote against what the "educated elite" want because that's how they can retain the systems that benefit themselves. The rest of us shouldn't let that happen...again.
Please share your reactions in the comments.