It was the great Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who wrote "free and independent as mankind were before, they were now, in consequence of a multiplicity of new wants, brought under subjection, as it were, to every thing in nature, and particularly to one another; each becoming in some degree a slave even in becoming a master: if rich, they stood in the need of the services of others; if po
or, of their assistance...Man must, now, therefore, have been perpetually employed in getting others to interest themselves in his happiness, and in making them apparently at least, if not really, find their advantage in promoting his own." Tuition costs have become one of the largest financial burdens in the history of the United States of America; not just for individual students and their families, but also for the American taxpayer and the US economy. It seems that most Americans have succumbed to a fate which they have deemed necessary in order to obtain the only tool to prosperity; education. When someone hears that colleges throughout the country have placed a hefty price-tag on education, they assume that it is a price we must pay in order to become successful individuals; they assume that it is a sort of normalcy in the American way of life. The Americans Against High Tuition Costs Facebook site is a platform where people speak out against this illusion of normalcy and, by doing such, reverse its drastic implications on American society. Colleges in the United States are no longer the educational institutions which once were; they are no longer the renowned centers which, until the present, had empowered Americans with the access to knowledge through education. They have, through their abuse of American Capitalism, evolved into a business which sees profit where the average American sees a necessary step toward a successful and happy lifestyle. They have, in turn, used knowledge against the people, and our way of life, in order to obtain financial return for themselves and their business; they have done this while blatantly allowing us to fall victim to financial ruin and enslavement. The naivety of the average American has thus been taken advantage of by the very institution through which we have sought to establish our professions and, therewith, our livelihoods. Colleges and universities throughout the US are taking advantage of the ideology, which is instilled in us during our childhood, that in order to attain a degree of success, one must attain a degree of education. While we are in school, we learn that, in order to be successful, we must continue to college; if not, we will not climb the social ranks of prosperity and will therefore lag behind in the lower classes. This is, of course, an ideology which is established throughout the development (or regression) of a society and is, in the current case of America, inevitable. But when the goal of the colleges turns to financial gain rather than the spread of knowledge, they begin to prey on the 16-18 year old American adolescents who inherit this ideology and do so at their expense. As these adolescents believe that they MUST acquire the badge of education, they do not see attending college as a financial risk and are ready to invest in their future by any means possible, even if the money for that investment is not their own. Thus, in order to fill this void and aid the college business, another business (student loan agencies) thrives at the expense of the students and American ideology of success by handing out enormous sums of credit, payable through interest during an allotted time period. But if, during this repayment period, a national or even global economic catastrophy takes place, resulting in the financial deprivation of many individuals, mostly through unemployment, and individuals are, momentarily, financially unable to pay back, their assets will be compromised and property no more their own. Remember, personal property is a key distinguishing factor between capitalism and communism
These lies and snake-like maneuvers to secure financial gain have left us, the people, hurt and vulnerable; the worst of this being that it has happened to Americans, by Americans, on American soil. These trends must stop! We will stand united against high tuition costs in order to secure the livliehoods of our future generations and to prevent their financial enslavement. On this platform, you can contribute ideas, views, thoughts, complaints, experiences, videos, photos, or whatever in order to get an understanding out there of the levity of this situation and the hurt it is imposing on the American people. Thanks for your contributions!
