Lee Siegel’s most recent book is called Are You Serious? How to Be True and Get Real in the Age of Silly. I doubt any irony was intended when the New York Times published his essay Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans last Sunday. Those NOT asking “are you serious” can only be others who have or might want to default. Deeply silly, this guy.
College
1) State of the Island
2) Why College Should Not Be Free
3) Irish Marriage
4) Sarah and the Bullies
5) An Imaginary Conversation
6) Signal to Noise
7) The Girl on the Train
8) The Girl With All the Gifts
9) Green Eggs and Ham
10) Mothers
College is a scam. The presumed value of a degree has to be high in order for people to support colleges and keep them in business. Graduates who get jobs are incentivized not to hire non-degree holders, which would retroactively devalue their own investment. If basic college education becomes commoditized, effort will be made to market the “value” of a “better” education, and we’ll end up where we are now before too long. Free college education will not level the playing field…
I made an amazing discovery during college: schoolwork is far more enjoyable when accompanied by beer. I’m convinced this is an essential part of the “college experience” – peer pressure has nothing to do with it. When I wrote this I tried to think of the most important things I learned in school, bored myself with internal rates of return and software development models… It all comes back to beer, anyway.
mossislandsounds.com 