On the True Value of Education

          On the True Value of Education

          Please note:

          http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.html?_r=2

Middle-aged, non-college whites are killing themselves, from despair and via alcohol and other drugs. It reminds me of similar afflictions suffered by the Russians right after the end of the Cold War.

          The GOP mocked Obama’s ‘hope-and-change’ slogan. Hey GOP, how’s that despair-and-stagnation thing working out? (But beware of mocking the afflicted. Parties of despair have done great damage, on their way out.)

It’s a weirdly specific affliction. Their younger relatives are immune, so are their older relatives, and the ones that went to college. They’re hurting economically; but Blacks and Hispanics have (as usual) been hurting even worse, yet are thriving.

So what is it about college that helps white middle-aged people not kill themselves? What memo did they get on campus that those who stop at high-school did not? One could speculate; whatever it is, it works.

          Many have complained bitterly about America’s higher education system; but for all its vocational, ideological and bureaucratic defects, it evidently still teaches mental survival. Learning is a sword and a shield; a spiritual defense in a world that crushes souls.

          In that sense, all education is Defense Against The Dark Arts.