{"id":16017,"date":"2017-03-03T17:22:45","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T17:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/?p=16017"},"modified":"2017-03-26T20:23:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-26T20:23:25","slug":"is-college-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/?p=16017","title":{"rendered":"Is College Worth it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

King’s College London graduands wearing academic dresses without caps. Source: Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n

Exclusive: Patrice Lewis notes some now rejecting ‘concentration-camp-style’ campuses<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, a college education served one of two major purposes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To obtain a \u201cliberal arts\u201d degree, which rounded out a student\u2019s education by exposing him to classic literature, art, music, political ideologies, history, and other useful and worthy subjects.<\/li>\n
  2. To train a student in a specialized field such as medicine, law, engineering, or other focused discipline.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In both cases, students generally took their studies seriously. Oh sure, there were the oddball types who cut loose and spent their college years in parentally-supported alcoholic stupors, but they were the exception, not the norm. Not only was college too expensive to waste, but attending higher education was considered a privilege, not a right.<\/p>\n

    These days \u2013 if the news is anything to go by \u2013 the serious students are in the minority. Most young people, it appears, suck down massive \u201cfree\u201d government loans and attend college to become activists. Last year, we learned students were annoyed<\/a><\/span> that their classes, homework and studies interfered with their activism.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThere are people breaking down, dropping out of classes and failing classes because of the activism work they are taking on,\u201d complained one student, adding: \u201cMy grades dropped dramatically. My health completely changed. I lost weight. I\u2019m on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills right now. (Counseling and Psychological Services) counselors called me. I had deans calling me to make sure I was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

    My my, what a healthy and vigorous atmosphere. We have to ask, is college really worth it?<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s no longer enough to question whether college is worth it economically. The tens of thousands of students who are now enslaved by lifelong debt for their Women\u2019s Studies or Gender Studies degrees are testimony enough.<\/p>\n

    But now it\u2019s important \u2013 critical \u2013 also to ask whether college is worth the risk of indoctrinating young people with eerie concentration-camp-style brainwashing. Students are now expected to think, act, agitate, vote and report micro-aggressions in lockstep with the progressive agenda, and woe betide anyone who steps out of line.<\/p>\n

    Rather than preparing students to face harsh real-world challenges, colleges are teaching students to curl into fetal positions when triggered by, well, everything. They offer safe spaces<\/a> <\/span>full of \u201ccookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and videos of frolicking puppies.\u201d (How much are you paying for this?)<\/p>\n

    Colleges train students to think unrealistically, including the cost of attending their hallowed halls. Apparently, student loans are nothing more than play money. \u201cOwing to a serious misconception,\u201d noted a recent article<\/a><\/span>, \u201calmost half of college students recently polled believe they won\u2019t be saddled with student loans soon after graduation. \u2026 This belief is hardly justified, given the limited circumstances in which these loans can actually be forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Nate Matherson, co-founder of an organization called LendEDU, added, \u201cThe fact that many students do not understand this means that they may be significantly underestimating the cost of financing a college education.\u201d<\/p>\n

    But far more dramatic than crippling debt is the life-long brainwashing these young people receive. Increasingly, formal education has come to mean conformity to the left\u2019s narrative, and college campuses are becoming places of mind control rather than institutions of higher learning. Recent examples include:<\/p>\n