by Max Nelsen
I believe federal financial aid for higher education should be abolished. Before everyone starts reaching for the nearest pitchfork, I would like to acknowledge that I would not be in school, at least not at Whitworth, were it not for federal grants and loans. Despite this, I still believe that federal financial aid does more harm than good.
It is common knowledge among college students that higher education is getting prohibitively expensive, with tuition rates increasing each year. Information from the U.S. Department of Education shows that "Between 1998-1999 and 2008-2009, prices for undergraduate tuition, room, and board at public institutions rose 32 percent, and prices at private institutions rose 24 percent, after adjustment for inflation." According to College Board, average federal aid per full-time equivalent student increased 49 percent over that same period. Total federal student aid for undergraduates was almost $117 billion in the '08-'09 academic year and has increased 91 percent over the last decade.
This massive amount of federal student aid being doled out helps contribute to the ever-increasing costs of education. Financial aid essentially acts as a subsidy for higher education; the government is effectively paying part of the bill for students to go school. Colleges recognize that a significant portion of their students' college tuition comes in the form of federal aid. Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation notes that, "Applying basic economic theory, providing students with more purchasing power would allow universities to raise tuition and capture that additional aid, leaving the students no better off." Thus, federal aid allows colleges to increase their tuition without fear of becoming too expensive for students to afford. Essentially, as federal aid increases with the goal of making higher education more affordable, it has the opposite effect of increasing overall costs.
The political goal of increased access to higher education combines with the universities' goal of increased revenue to create a sort of vicious spiral of costs. As the government increases aid, colleges charge more, which, in turn, spawns yet more federal aid. In essence, federal aid creates a self-perpetuating death spiral of education costs.
Aside from skyrocketing costs, this spiral has additional side effects. Students are saddled with more debt as they are forced to take on increasing amounts of federal loans in order to afford their education. Furthermore, Gary Wolfram, George Munson Professor of Political Economy at Hillsdale College, writes that the increasing reliance on federal funds creates a situation in which the "resulting loss of independence of our colleges and universities affects the ability of voters to form opinions about public policy that are independent of the government's position." Lastly, taxpayers are left to foot the bill for the increasing financial aid used to send their children to school.
Despite this, the Obama administration is committed to increasing student aid. The White House website states that "the President is committed to increasing higher education access and success by restructuring and dramatically expanding college financial aid." Furthermore, President Obama has been making a series of backyard-style speeches during the last week in which he has promoted this agenda and criticized Republicans for supposedly seeking to reduce aid.
If policy makers are serious about reducing the cost of education, increasing financial aid is not the way to do it. Instead, a gradual phasing out of financial aid is a more appropriate response. Wolfram states that, were aid to decrease, one of the first things that would happen would be a decline in tuition rates. As soon as colleges realize they can no longer count on perpetual increases in aid funds to justify increasing tuition, they will be forced to actually begin charging tuition more commensurate to what people can afford. It would be impossible to maintain enrollment if they did not. This would also have the effect of increasing competition and efficiency among schools and, consequently, educational quality, as colleges are forced to earn their tuition dollars from students instead of the government.
While this may seem counter-intuitive, it is an important step in reining in the cost of education. However, current students should not worry about any major changes to the financial aid system anytime soon. Like so many other inefficient government programs, federal financial aid would be so politically unpopular to curb that there is practically no danger of it being proposed, let alone enacted.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tim Wise: The Real Racist
by Anthony Rays
To those in the mainstream media and their handlers, an "anti-racist" is a person more or less beyond criticism - a knight in shining armor fighting for equality and fairness. Tim Wise is one of these self-proclaimed "anti-racist activists" who spoke at University of Idaho in October.
This humble reporter is a little smarter than that. We at THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE are very familiar with Tim Wise and his ilk: simple hucksters who earn their living by droning far-left platitudes at innocent students, whilst they travel campus to campus. Invited by university bureaucrats - of course - and paid for with the students' money - of course!
While there may be an honest few amongst the bunch, the majority of these so called activists spout the same hateful, pseudo-communist drivel that has been rampant at universities since the 70s: the successful must be brought down, white people (European-Americans) must be brought down, the white male (Evil-American) must be brought down, and then we will have equality and peace. The failings of the unsuccessful are not their fault, but the product of a "racist system" which seeks to oppress them - etc, etc.
With that in mind, and with the help of YOUTH FOR WESTERN CIVILIZATION's branch at Washington State University, we decided to stage a small protest outside of Mr. Wise's speech. U Idaho engineering student Alex Rowson printed up flyers detailing some of Mr. Wise's hateful writings, and included a question of his own - if Mr. Wise is an activist against racism, why does he support "affirmative action", a system designed to reward "minority" races at the expense of European-Americans?
Mr. Rowson positioned himself by the door and managed to hand flyers to almost every entrant. The reactions from students, with a handful of exceptions, were positive or polite. Interestingly, the older members of the audience were the most hostile.
The U Idaho "Director of Human Rights, Access and Inclusion", Carmen Suarez, who was present, went so far as to call the young student activist "evil" and "everything that's wrong in America".
Tim Wise's speech was more or less as expected. He praised the National Council of "La Raza" (The Race, aka The Hispanic Race), an ethnocentric organization if there ever was one, while claiming that a hidden, secretive system of white ethnocentrism was responsible for low graduation and high crime rates amongst minorities. He stated that every strip of American ground was stolen, the Christian church is a tool of genocide, white people loved welfare until brown people started using it, etc. He suggested that since Tea Party types did not support legalized drugs and open borders, they only wanted a selfish government "for themselves" (presumably conservative white people); and that our past is so evil and awful that anyone looking back with nostalgia on the pre-60s era is probably a racist.
When questioned on the affirmative action issue, Mr. Wise evaded the issue by claiming that there is "barely any" affirmative action in this country anymore. But whether called "quotas", "disparate impact lawsuits", "minority mortgages", "support structures for minorities", "disadvantaged business programs", or other leftist newspeak terms, they all boil down to the same thing: the money of the American people is being used to support non-European-Americans at the expense of European-Americans. For all the talk about white racist power structures, can Mr. Wise provide proof of anything concrete beyond his paranoid fantasies?
To be fair, Mr. Wise did make clear that he was a "leftist, not a liberal", and "anti-capitalist" to boot. Fine; he has the right to free speech like all Americans. But who asked the student body, whose money is supporting Mr. Wise? The speech seems to have been a requirement for a Sociology class, "403 WS: Tim Wise: Racism and White Privilege" - why is the university system forcing students to listen to this hateful, destructive garbage?
We can't blame individuals like Mr. Wise and "Director of Human Rights, Access and Inclusion" Suarez for being hostile to conservative politics, since their careers and salaries depend completely on the stranglehold of liberal dogma. What we can do is reveal that people like them are irrelevant - since we, the youth, truly control the future.
To those in the mainstream media and their handlers, an "anti-racist" is a person more or less beyond criticism - a knight in shining armor fighting for equality and fairness. Tim Wise is one of these self-proclaimed "anti-racist activists" who spoke at University of Idaho in October.
This humble reporter is a little smarter than that. We at THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE are very familiar with Tim Wise and his ilk: simple hucksters who earn their living by droning far-left platitudes at innocent students, whilst they travel campus to campus. Invited by university bureaucrats - of course - and paid for with the students' money - of course!
While there may be an honest few amongst the bunch, the majority of these so called activists spout the same hateful, pseudo-communist drivel that has been rampant at universities since the 70s: the successful must be brought down, white people (European-Americans) must be brought down, the white male (Evil-American) must be brought down, and then we will have equality and peace. The failings of the unsuccessful are not their fault, but the product of a "racist system" which seeks to oppress them - etc, etc.
With that in mind, and with the help of YOUTH FOR WESTERN CIVILIZATION's branch at Washington State University, we decided to stage a small protest outside of Mr. Wise's speech. U Idaho engineering student Alex Rowson printed up flyers detailing some of Mr. Wise's hateful writings, and included a question of his own - if Mr. Wise is an activist against racism, why does he support "affirmative action", a system designed to reward "minority" races at the expense of European-Americans?
Mr. Rowson positioned himself by the door and managed to hand flyers to almost every entrant. The reactions from students, with a handful of exceptions, were positive or polite. Interestingly, the older members of the audience were the most hostile.
The U Idaho "Director of Human Rights, Access and Inclusion", Carmen Suarez, who was present, went so far as to call the young student activist "evil" and "everything that's wrong in America".
Tim Wise's speech was more or less as expected. He praised the National Council of "La Raza" (The Race, aka The Hispanic Race), an ethnocentric organization if there ever was one, while claiming that a hidden, secretive system of white ethnocentrism was responsible for low graduation and high crime rates amongst minorities. He stated that every strip of American ground was stolen, the Christian church is a tool of genocide, white people loved welfare until brown people started using it, etc. He suggested that since Tea Party types did not support legalized drugs and open borders, they only wanted a selfish government "for themselves" (presumably conservative white people); and that our past is so evil and awful that anyone looking back with nostalgia on the pre-60s era is probably a racist.
When questioned on the affirmative action issue, Mr. Wise evaded the issue by claiming that there is "barely any" affirmative action in this country anymore. But whether called "quotas", "disparate impact lawsuits", "minority mortgages", "support structures for minorities", "disadvantaged business programs", or other leftist newspeak terms, they all boil down to the same thing: the money of the American people is being used to support non-European-Americans at the expense of European-Americans. For all the talk about white racist power structures, can Mr. Wise provide proof of anything concrete beyond his paranoid fantasies?
To be fair, Mr. Wise did make clear that he was a "leftist, not a liberal", and "anti-capitalist" to boot. Fine; he has the right to free speech like all Americans. But who asked the student body, whose money is supporting Mr. Wise? The speech seems to have been a requirement for a Sociology class, "403 WS: Tim Wise: Racism and White Privilege" - why is the university system forcing students to listen to this hateful, destructive garbage?
We can't blame individuals like Mr. Wise and "Director of Human Rights, Access and Inclusion" Suarez for being hostile to conservative politics, since their careers and salaries depend completely on the stranglehold of liberal dogma. What we can do is reveal that people like them are irrelevant - since we, the youth, truly control the future.
Say No to Party Girls
by Phil Tignino
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the femininity of our women is downspiraling. The drunken swivel of the neck at any of our fine watering holes or house parties lends credence to this uncomfortable observation. When a girl knows what a ‘4 Loko’ is, my stomach churns with the knowledge that she enthusiastically embraces blackouts and the first yokel to say, "Leh me get at dat," on a weekly basis. I might let her pursue me for a one-night stand or two. But anything more than that? I don't think so.
If a girl recounts her escapades of inebriation outside her immediate circle of girlfriends she automatically lowers her feminine value. It’s alright to get drunk on occasion. Go out, for sure. Have a great time. But honestly, a so-called "woman" can't be properly categorized as such when she takes on the sloppy-drunk characteristics of her testosterone-drenched surroundings. When thirty packs are consumed on a regular basis by a leggy blonde or when boisterous whoops from the beer pong table escape from a petite, easy-to-look-at brunette - hang your heads in shame, future leaders of the world. They are not girlfriend material. They are pump-and-dumps to be disdained. Never muddle the two.
Let the feminists and egalitarians shriek, "B-b-but men do it too! Men get more drunk, more often than girls. What about them?" Good point. But something the Left tends to avoid is the reality of life. There is a innate unfairness when it comes to expectations of the sexes and their daily interactions. A man could get blitzed every night of the week and still maintain the masculine appeal women find attractive in a mate. Men only lose value when they cross that fuzzy line between feminine and masculine habits and acts. Any chump aware of the tendencies of a party girl knows that her primitive hindbrain will put her body in your arms if you can press the right buttons. Tenfold times more so when alcohol is involved.
So keep those golden girls with the least impurities and indescretions in the back of your mind, under "girlfriend potential". They’re not the ones standing outside the bar at midnight buzzing to get in. Hold onto them, they’re literal gold. And you know that the value of gold skyrockets as the market gets saturated with dirty, used greenbacks. Same with girls. When the food supplies run low and times get tough like in Western days of old, don't be afraid to make an investment you won't regret - because golden girls last forever.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the femininity of our women is downspiraling. The drunken swivel of the neck at any of our fine watering holes or house parties lends credence to this uncomfortable observation. When a girl knows what a ‘4 Loko’ is, my stomach churns with the knowledge that she enthusiastically embraces blackouts and the first yokel to say, "Leh me get at dat," on a weekly basis. I might let her pursue me for a one-night stand or two. But anything more than that? I don't think so.
If a girl recounts her escapades of inebriation outside her immediate circle of girlfriends she automatically lowers her feminine value. It’s alright to get drunk on occasion. Go out, for sure. Have a great time. But honestly, a so-called "woman" can't be properly categorized as such when she takes on the sloppy-drunk characteristics of her testosterone-drenched surroundings. When thirty packs are consumed on a regular basis by a leggy blonde or when boisterous whoops from the beer pong table escape from a petite, easy-to-look-at brunette - hang your heads in shame, future leaders of the world. They are not girlfriend material. They are pump-and-dumps to be disdained. Never muddle the two.
Let the feminists and egalitarians shriek, "B-b-but men do it too! Men get more drunk, more often than girls. What about them?" Good point. But something the Left tends to avoid is the reality of life. There is a innate unfairness when it comes to expectations of the sexes and their daily interactions. A man could get blitzed every night of the week and still maintain the masculine appeal women find attractive in a mate. Men only lose value when they cross that fuzzy line between feminine and masculine habits and acts. Any chump aware of the tendencies of a party girl knows that her primitive hindbrain will put her body in your arms if you can press the right buttons. Tenfold times more so when alcohol is involved.
So keep those golden girls with the least impurities and indescretions in the back of your mind, under "girlfriend potential". They’re not the ones standing outside the bar at midnight buzzing to get in. Hold onto them, they’re literal gold. And you know that the value of gold skyrockets as the market gets saturated with dirty, used greenbacks. Same with girls. When the food supplies run low and times get tough like in Western days of old, don't be afraid to make an investment you won't regret - because golden girls last forever.
The Success of Failure
by Alexander Smith
They say failure is not an option. I've heard that in education, I've heard it in sports: "We have to win, failure is not a option". Well, my team never won state, and I never got straight A's - so failure was an option.
Failure is only not an option when there is no other alternative or if the outcome of failure is unthinkable. "We have to defeat Nazi German, failure is not an option," "I have to get this job to pay my rent, failure is not an option," "I have to save my child from a burning building, failure is not an option,"... In order for failure not to be a option you literally have to have your back to a cliff or have the prospect of failure be so horrible that it inspires you to greatness. With that truth made clear, is failure an option in America?
Is failure an option in high school? Most definitely. When the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) became a graduation requirement, over 30% didn't pass the required sections, so they lowered the standards to have more people pass. The power of failure! The same was true of our senior project, it was a "pass or fail", but there was almost no way to fail. Even if you didn't do it they would find "alternative projects" for the student to do to "pass".
Sadly in America failure can be a better option then success. As many prospective and current college students know, the majority of scholarships go to either really rich or poor individuals. If you're middle class, you're don't have the income to spend on your son or daughter for special classes and hobbies that can bring with them opportunities for college scholarships. If you're poor there is a whole world of scholarships open for you, because of the choices of your parents. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have scholarships for the poor, but you shouldn't create incentives for people not to save and be reasonable with what they have. I come from a mid to upper low income bracket. My parents are teachers, and for most of my life one stayed at home. I was neither rich nor poor but because my parents saved too much, I didn't qualify for scholarships and still couldn't really afford to go to college. I picked up jobs in college and during the summer to pay for school because I had no other options.
For a lot of people in my generation government money and welfare programs pay for the services and life styles of those who don't really need it. I have friends that are 19 that are on welfare, but they don't want to get a job because they could lose their welfare money. I know college students that spend all their money on beer and liquor but get food stamps. The power of failure! Why save when others will front the bill?
Even TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) has provisions for debt forgiveness, so if you spent too much money and couldn't pay it back don't worry - Obama has your back. Some of the biggest problems we face as a nation are because of this mindset. Why transcend over adversity, if you're guaranteed mediocrity?
They say failure is not an option. I've heard that in education, I've heard it in sports: "We have to win, failure is not a option". Well, my team never won state, and I never got straight A's - so failure was an option.
Failure is only not an option when there is no other alternative or if the outcome of failure is unthinkable. "We have to defeat Nazi German, failure is not an option," "I have to get this job to pay my rent, failure is not an option," "I have to save my child from a burning building, failure is not an option,"... In order for failure not to be a option you literally have to have your back to a cliff or have the prospect of failure be so horrible that it inspires you to greatness. With that truth made clear, is failure an option in America?
Is failure an option in high school? Most definitely. When the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) became a graduation requirement, over 30% didn't pass the required sections, so they lowered the standards to have more people pass. The power of failure! The same was true of our senior project, it was a "pass or fail", but there was almost no way to fail. Even if you didn't do it they would find "alternative projects" for the student to do to "pass".
Sadly in America failure can be a better option then success. As many prospective and current college students know, the majority of scholarships go to either really rich or poor individuals. If you're middle class, you're don't have the income to spend on your son or daughter for special classes and hobbies that can bring with them opportunities for college scholarships. If you're poor there is a whole world of scholarships open for you, because of the choices of your parents. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have scholarships for the poor, but you shouldn't create incentives for people not to save and be reasonable with what they have. I come from a mid to upper low income bracket. My parents are teachers, and for most of my life one stayed at home. I was neither rich nor poor but because my parents saved too much, I didn't qualify for scholarships and still couldn't really afford to go to college. I picked up jobs in college and during the summer to pay for school because I had no other options.
For a lot of people in my generation government money and welfare programs pay for the services and life styles of those who don't really need it. I have friends that are 19 that are on welfare, but they don't want to get a job because they could lose their welfare money. I know college students that spend all their money on beer and liquor but get food stamps. The power of failure! Why save when others will front the bill?
Even TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) has provisions for debt forgiveness, so if you spent too much money and couldn't pay it back don't worry - Obama has your back. Some of the biggest problems we face as a nation are because of this mindset. Why transcend over adversity, if you're guaranteed mediocrity?
THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE - Debut post
We're proud to announce the debut of your new source for alternative news and opinion: THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE.
Our goal is to provide a source of opinion and commentary free from the restrictions of your typical school or local paper. While we take a public stance of conservativism, we are not dogmatists and will touch on a wide variety of topics: nightlife and venue reviews, local politics, philosophical and religious debates, scholastic issues - in short, anything that YOU might find interesting.
THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE is the brainchild of a University of Idaho engineering major and a Washington State University political science major; who met through common interest in conservatism and the new right. We believe that conservative thought is the true youth revolution of today; not the failed and boring politics of Baby Boomers and ex-hippies.
This blog will serve as a compilation of all articles published or to-be-published in our print version. As of now, we are restricted to the Palouse area (U Idaho and WSU) but hope to expand in time.
As we're still very new, we don't have a permanent writing staff. What we need now are YOUR submissions and contributions! We will read any submission and print it if the quality meets our standards.
Send all submissions to: northwest.alternative@gmail.com
With your help, we know that THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE could be a great success. Thanks for reading and spread the word!
-A.R., Editor in Chief
Our goal is to provide a source of opinion and commentary free from the restrictions of your typical school or local paper. While we take a public stance of conservativism, we are not dogmatists and will touch on a wide variety of topics: nightlife and venue reviews, local politics, philosophical and religious debates, scholastic issues - in short, anything that YOU might find interesting.
THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE is the brainchild of a University of Idaho engineering major and a Washington State University political science major; who met through common interest in conservatism and the new right. We believe that conservative thought is the true youth revolution of today; not the failed and boring politics of Baby Boomers and ex-hippies.
This blog will serve as a compilation of all articles published or to-be-published in our print version. As of now, we are restricted to the Palouse area (U Idaho and WSU) but hope to expand in time.
As we're still very new, we don't have a permanent writing staff. What we need now are YOUR submissions and contributions! We will read any submission and print it if the quality meets our standards.
Send all submissions to: northwest.alternative@gmail.com
With your help, we know that THE NORTHWEST ALTERNATIVE could be a great success. Thanks for reading and spread the word!
-A.R., Editor in Chief
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