On the True Value of Education
Please note:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.html?_r=2
Middle-aged,
non-college whites are killing themselves, from despair and via alcohol and
other drugs. It reminds me of similar afflictions suffered by the Russians
right after the end of the Cold War.
The GOP mocked Obama’s ‘hope-and-change’ slogan. Hey GOP,
how’s that despair-and-stagnation thing working out? (But beware of mocking the
afflicted. Parties of despair have done great damage, on their way out.)
It’s
a weirdly specific affliction. Their younger relatives are immune, so are their
older relatives, and the ones that went to college. They’re hurting
economically; but Blacks and Hispanics have (as usual) been hurting even worse,
yet are thriving.
So
what is it about college that helps white middle-aged people not kill
themselves? What memo did they get on campus that those who stop at high-school
did not? One could speculate; whatever it is, it works.
Many have complained bitterly about America’s higher
education system; but for all its vocational, ideological and bureaucratic
defects, it evidently still teaches mental survival. Learning is a sword and a
shield; a spiritual defense in a world that crushes souls.
In that sense, all education is Defense Against The Dark
Arts.
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