Burn out

I have been doing online college courses for almost four years now.  What I have learned is not exactly what the college instructors have been teaching.  I have learned that higher education is about "outputs."  Yes, you too may get that coveted piece of paper if you do enough "outputs"  in the way the instructors want you to.  For a lot of money,  I have not learned near enough to feel I am getting my money's worth.  It is an awful testament to our American higher education system that I feel such burn out from the course loads I have. 

My mother was amazed when I told her I already have 64 credits but no bachelor's degree.  In her day, an AA was 32 credits and a  bachelor's was 64 credits.  In this country, it is about having a dumbed down workforce.  If higher education requires twice the number of credits as before, it costs way more as well.  These higher costs mean less people will finish college.  This country wants a dumbed down workforce.

Think about it, the best jobs have gone overseas or have been given to the cheaper foreign workers.  Americans are out of work and there are no jobs.  If corporations dumb down American kids and their parents, eventually people will be so desperate for work that they will do ANYTHING for a job to bring some money in, even if it is a pittance of what they once had.  These companies are seeing that China and other countries are poised to become the biggest consumers (imagine: a billion-person market) so to get these folks what they want, make Americans dumbed down, take on illegal immigrants and work them both to death for low wages.  Treat everyone in this country like indentured servants that will work for little and crank out the most.  After all, we Americans have been trained to be more productive than just about any other country.  We do the work of  three and four people and get paid for one person or less.

This is the way things are going.  Keep us dumbed down, divided over stupid issues like abortion or gay marriage and keep us poorer and poorer so we don't rise up and demand that something gets done.  If we are dumb enough and worked hard enough, we will be burned out and unable to fight back anymore. 

It used to be that working hard and having an education was the path to a better life.  Not anymore.