Learning About Highway Robbery Will Not Stop Robbers

False Syllogism:

Students struggle to pay their debt.

Students are unfamiliar with the pugnacious nature of their loan demands

Therefore knowledge of these demands will alleviate students of their struggle.  

It has been suggested by a smattering of politicians and ignorantly well-meaning citizens that simple knowledge about the cost and policies of student loans will solve the student debt crisis.  

I have to assume that holders of this non sequitur are either ignorant or doing their best to blanket the issue with a pretty euphemism. In either case, it’s unacceptable.

There are two fundamental issues with this train of thought. The first is that a focus on educating students on loan policies hinders us from focusing on the real issue. The real issue is that the current system just plain doesn’t work anymore. Tuition is skyrocketing, loans are dolled out like candy and the students/citizens suffer the consequences. We treat the “inadequate information” symptom while the whole body suffers of a student debt disease. Sure, giving more information to students is probably a good idea. Just like putting a cool cloth on your head is a good idea when you have a fever. But I’d certainly hope that my doctor (i.e. the government) would give me a prescription sooner than he’d pass me a wet-one.  Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case. 

The government and 'we the people' need to think about a real solution which implies change to the current system. In other words, Uncle Sam needs to put solutions where his pretty, euphemistic mouth is. Our government policies haven’t caught up with reality, nor are they limiting the outrageous costs of education or unmerciful lender policies. 

I can see Monty Python or SNL having a hay-day with this image we’ve created. We make students sign a paper saying we’re going to bop them on the head with a 2x4 upon graduation. Now many students are unaware of this policy and are rightly taken by surprise when, upon receiving a diploma, they are met with the whooshing sound of a 2x4 to the head. Some unrest spreads and the government decides that they will educate these students about how the 2x4 will be bopping their heads- the trajectory of the wood, the effects to the skull, etc. Yet students are still upset and government just cannot understand why. They’ve done everything right! Oh, and as the years pass and prices skyrocket, the 2x4 becomes a sledgehammer, becomes a demolition ball...etc. 

My second disagreement with this viewpoint, has to do with following the statement to its conclusion. If in fact, students DO learn the horrendous mess they’re getting into and we assume that these students are logical beings, what makes us think they’ll follow through? If you told me you were going to bop me with a 2x4, I’d probably try to avoid it as best I could. And students already are!  There are Un-college movements, Default-Loan movements, Online university classes (some even for free). Even graduate schools have had a decrease in first-time enrollment for two years running. Some may wonder if the government needs to get involved at all since it seems students are finding their own solutions. But the implications of these “solutions” look more bleak than promising. No higher education, mass defaults (already an issue), online schools where dropout rates are 20 percent higher than traditional dropout rates, or a limited education due to costs. 

Is that really the best we can do?

If we’re going to create syllogisms at all, they should look more like the following:

True Syllogism:

Students struggle to pay their debt.

Lenders, Government and Universities don’t care enough to deal with it.

Therefore, America’s future generations and/or education system suffer.