Quick Musings

Since I have been an educator in the past, I've known a number of people - friends as well as professional contacts - who have taught in the for-profit sector. These instructors are incredibly dedicated to their students and to the curriculum they create, and they also understand how they fit into a totally corrupt system.

This is an interesting piece about the concern a teacher who taught at a Corinthian College has for her former students. Michelle Wallace, who taught for 7 years at one of its campuses in the Bay Area, said, "I'm just worried about the students: They're the ones who really got screwed in all of this." Right now, their fate is uncertain, and the Department of Education, especially the Secretary, is playing dumb when it comes to forgiving their loans and setting the record straight.

On a side-note, the focus on the for-profits is lopsided and too extreme. The formal assault on higher education should be on all the institutions and how their tax structures, among other structural issues, allow them to bilk students as well as taxpayers. That should be the focus. It is too easy to bash the for-profits. The systemic problems are widespread and not just related to them. In addition, when we use the term "non-profit," we should realize how utterly naive it is to use such terminology. It's simply anachronistic.

While there are differences, we should target the non-profits as well. They too are part of this mess, and that should not be forgotten or swept under the rug.