???UB's endowment has dropped by a cool $145 million, not that anyone should be surprised. After all, the road to recovery in this country is sure to be a bloody one. We are all going to feel the pinch. Scholarships are going to drop and all the fun toys and perks we've become accustomed to (free laundry and pasta bar) are at least as close to the chopping block if not on top already.
???It's time, students, to take a long hard look in the mirror. Why are you here?
???The concept of educational inflation is a simple one. Degrees are like cash; the more there is the less each individual part is worth. If everyone goes to college, college becomes square one.
???A college education used to be a status symbol because it represented a person spending four years cracking the books with a vengeance. A person with a college education was a scholar.
???Not to be rude, but many of you are not scholars. In fact, the majority of you are probably reading this in class. This is the changing identity of academia: privilege to right and way station to sanctuary. There is no excuse for spending six years in college only to graduate with a 2.0 and a single B.A.
???It's really a societal problem, which makes it hard to place the blame on one group. But we are going to try.
???Students need to start viewing education as a privilege, even in a country that aspires to make it a right. Taking this time for granted only proves that the rest of the world has the right idea-American children are spoiled, lazy and ripe for fleecing.
???Professors need to understand that academia is not a sanctuary for twits that are too lazy to get a real job. Teaching is one of the most honorable professions in human history, and those who treat it as an opportunity to hold forth on their own egotistical views denigrate the entire field of higher learning.
???Finally, parents, please, you know your kids as well as anyone. If your child is an idiot, don't send them to college. Your little snowflake isn't automatically a scholar because they have a U.S. passport.
???It's time to trim the fat from the U.S. education system. And for the record-the bookstore is organized alphabetically, folks. You can handle it.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
