Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher excoriated higher education on his show last Friday, calling it a “grift” and likening it to Scientology.
“[College] is a racket that sells you a very expensive ticket to the upper middle class,” Maher said in a monologue that spanned more than six minutes.
“President Biden’s American Families Plan asks the taxpayers to pony up hundreds of billions so that everyone can go to college, and billions more for subsidized childcare so our kids can go to school while we go to school,” Maher continued.
“I know free college is a left-wing thing, but is it really liberal for someone who doesn’t go to college and makes less money to pay for people who do go and make more?” Maher asked. “Especially since colleges have turned into giant luxury daycare centers with overpaid babysitters anxious to indulge every student whim.”
“Why is China kicking our ass?” Maher later asked rhetorically. “Because in 2019, we issued more undergrad degrees in visual and performing arts than in computer and information science or math. Say what you want about Lori Laughlin. At least she understood that one good scam deserves another. In the immortal words of her [Laurie Laughlin’s] daughter, Olivia Jade, ‘I don’t know how much school I’m going to attend … but I do want the experience of, like, game days and partying.’”
“Yeah, I’m not f***ing paying for that,” Maher said, who went on to observe the disproportionate number of college students who have obtained high grades since 1960, as well as the staggering rate of college tuition compared to the rate of inflation.
“A wannabe librarian needs a master’s degree just to get an entry-level job filing books. I’ve heard this from so many nurses, and teachers, and administrators, rolling their eyes when relating how they needed to take some bulls*** course in order to advance in their field when, really, they already learn what they need by working the job,” he said.
“But in the grift that is our higher education, when you want to move up … you need to pay for more ‘education’ before we decide if you can do what you do,” Maher said. “F***, this is what Scientology does. Makes you keep taking courses to move up to the bridge of total freedom,” he added.
“The answer isn’t to make college free. The answer is to make it more unnecessary, which it is for most jobs,” Maher stated.
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