Is THIS why Arne Duncan wants Everyone to go to College?

Is college debt collection the new "Wild West in Education" scheme for "entrepreneurs" to make money?

It is no secret this Administration's goal is to make the majority of students college/career ready, in fact, it is in its educational blueprint and heard in many of their speeches.  What is the stated goal of the Administration's school reform?  From an Arne Duncan speech:

Today, we have a unique opportunity to rethink the mission of high school for the 21 century and educate our way to a better economy. I'm convinced that what we do in the next several years to complete this transformation will help America's children and the nation's workforce for decades to come.

Students are to be educated so they are globally competitive and help the nation's workforce.  The emphasis is on training human capital to supply the needs of the economy. In Duncan's world, this means there should be opportunities for all students to go to community college, career college or a four year university so as to help private businesses (and government) be successful.

Does a goal of most people achieving the same outcome make you a little nervous and suspicious?  Do you remember the No Child Left Behind Goal of "100% of students will be proficient by 2014"?  That goal was unattainable and ridiculed from the beginning, no matter how noble its intentions.

The goal of the majority of students to go to some sort of post-high school program is unattainable as well.  Some students are not motivated enough and/or are not intellectually able to handle post-high school programs.   Why is there this push for students to become become theoretically smarter and more productive human capital by furthering their education? 

What's occurring with this plan?  While more students are attending post high school programs,  it's establishing student servitude to the Federal Government long after the students have graduated due to student debt.  Since 2010, the Federal Government directly makes student loans, not private companies.  The loans are to be paid directly to the government, not private industry.  It's a pretty nifty program to ensure a money stream for a cash strapped country.  It falls apart when those students can't find a job and don't have enough money to pay their bills, much less the government treasury.

From the NY Times and Debt Collectors Cashing In on Student Loans:

At a protest last year at New York University, students called attention to their mounting debt by wearing T-shirts with the amount they owed scribbled across the front — $90,000, $75,000, $20,000.  

On the sidelines was a business consultant for the debt collection industry with a different take. 

“I couldn’t believe the accumulated wealth they represent — for our industry,” the consultant, Jerry Ashton, wrote in a column for a trade publication, InsideARM.com. “It was lip-smacking.” 

Though Mr. Ashton says his column was meant to be ironic, it nonetheless highlighted undeniable truths: many borrowers are struggling to pay off their student loans, and the debt collection industry is cashing in. 

In an attempt to recover money on the defaulted loans, the Education Department paid more than $1.4 billion last fiscal year to collection agencies and other groups to hunt down defaulters.

The article highlights one private company reaping huge dividends from the government to go after debt:

The New Oil Well?

 

Business is booming at ConServe, a debt collection agency in suburban Rochester. The company recently expanded into a neighboring building. The payroll of 420 is expected to double in three years. 

“There is great opportunity,” said Mark E. Davitt, the company’s president and founder.

Where some debt collection firms have made their fortunes collecting on delinquent credit cards or hospital bills, ConServe is thriving because of overdue student loans, a large majority of its business. 

With an outstanding balance of more than $1 trillion, student loans have become a silver lining for the debt collection industry at a time when its once-thriving business of credit card collection has diminished and the unemployment rate has made collection a challenge. To recoup unpaid loans, the federal government, private lenders and others have turned to collection agencies like ConServe. 

Mark Russell, a mergers and acquisition specialist, writing in the same trade publication as Mr. Ashton, the consultant at the N.Y.U. protest, suggested student loans might be a “new oil well” for the accounts receivable management industry, or ARM, as the industry is known.

 

Mr. Ashton's and Mr. Russell's comments remind me of education venture capitalist Scott Joftus remarking that "education is the Wild, Wild West and there is a lot of money to be made".  Not only will education reformers and venture capitalists make money from laws tweaked by politicians, so will debt collectors.

Does the alliance with private companies (ed reformers, venture capitalists, Solyndra, Mamtek, etc) with the Federal Government cause concern?  Are our tax dollars propping up this economy under the guise of supporting private industry?  Why are tax dollars being used for private industries in the first place? 

While ed reformers espouse "free market" principles in "choice" schools, it's really not "free market" at all.  The money used to fund these schools are from your tax dollars and there is little to no risk to the "entrepreneurs".   Meanwhile, education venture capitalists like Bill Gates and Scott Joftus are making money from the mandates put in place by the politicians and the Department of Education.

Now the debt collectors can step in and reap the benefits of the unattainable goal pitched to  students that they can and should (it's their "right") to go to college.  It's a Utopian goal and we know there is no Utopia.  If there is no Utopia, what is the real reason for this structuring of educational reform?

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Take some time and read the comments at the end of the Times article.  Interesting stories and theories on debt, student responsibility, the structure of the economic system, etc.

Not to be Outdone, Arne Duncan Embarks on His Own "Magical Mystery Bus Tour"

This is from the Department of Education's Twitter Feed on Friday, September 2:

Arne Duncan (@arneduncan)
9/2/11 2:53 PM
First look at the bus for next week's Great Lakes Back-to-School Bus Tour #EDTour11 http://t.co/cGUgTWm

Obviously Duncan won't be traveling on this wrecked bus. This bus is a visual metaphor for the reforms Duncan has offered. (For the sleek looking bus he uses, click the link on the twitter feed).

I wondered if Duncan recycled one of President Obama's buses from his recent Mid-Western tour (being "green" and recycling is an important DOE goal and the path to prosperity for students) but I discovered Duncan has made a bus tour before. He may very well be recycling last year's bus. What is that "important DOE goal"? It comes from a Philadelphia meeting with Joe Biden and federal agency heads in a "Middle Class Task Force" meeting:

"Vice President Biden's focus on the middle class is directly aligned with our focus on improving education and college access. This is about the American Dream and it starts with education. The green jobs of tomorrow demand a quality education today," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. (February 2009). With the closing of Solyndra and half of billion dollars of taxpayer money gone, should the Education Secretary be focusing on different sectors in which to steer educational goals for American students?

Duncan's first bus tour was in August 2010. What was the purpose of the tour?

The blue charter bus emblazoned with a federal logo, images of smiling teachers and slogans such as "Courage in the Classroom" pulls up to school after school.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is on a campaign to cheer on America's teachers at a time when a sizable number are skeptical of President Obama's education agenda. Duncan faces a curious situation. In the past year and a half, he has dispensed tens of billions of dollars to sustain schools through fiscal crises and to fund ideas to improve. On Tuesday, he awarded nine states and the District $3 billion for education innovation. As the school year starts, he will unload another $10 billion for education jobs.

The first tour was to mollify teachers and what is the current bus tour focus?

The “Education and the Economy” Back-to-School Bus Tour takes Secretary Arne Duncan and senior ED staff to more than 50 events throughout the Midwest. During the tour, Duncan and staff will promote the valuable work teachers, parents, and administrators do every day to change students’ lives and, ultimately, invest in our nation’s future. Arne will be meeting with educators and talking with students, parents, administrators, and community stakeholders. Among the topics that Secretary Duncan and senior staff will discuss include the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, K-12 reform, transforming the teaching profession, civil rights enforcement, efforts to better serve students with disabilities and English Language Learners, Promise Neighborhoods, the Investing in Innovation (i3) fund, STEM education, increasing college access and attainment as well as vocational and adult education.

How much carbon footprint will Secretary Duncan be using on this tour? Do you think he will be successful rallying support for nationalized curriculum, unfunded debt to states, turning schools into social service agencies and saddling students with college debt they can't afford to pay back because there are no jobs available for those college educated students America so desperately needs? Where is the idea of personal responsibility of parents and students in his message?

Here is a pre-tour analysis of President Obama's bus trip from a Pittsburgh newspaper:

It's important to projecting an image that the president empathizes with people's needs, and to show leadership, political analysts say -- and that's one reason presidents choose bus tours or use factories as backdrops for speeches. Yet, sometimes utilizing such props fails.

Just insert Arne Duncan's name in place of the word "president" and you've got the gist of Duncan's bus tour. It's difficult to believe Duncan's tour will be successful when none of these educational reforms are from local districts or taxpayers. It's difficult to behave empathetically when it is your federal agency that is mandating reforms on the taxpayers who have no choice!

If Secretary Duncan was truly empathetic to people's needs, the Federal government would step down and let local communities dictate their educational services and direction. If he would do that, the DOE wouldn't have to be spending money on gasoline driving a bus preaching an empty message. That would certainly be a "green" move in the right direction.