President Obama is hitting the road today for a two-day bus tour through New York and Pennsylvania. The objective: expand upon the higher education reforms he hinted at during is State of the Union address in February. The cost of high education has skyrocketed, and the President is looking to make college more affordable.
"The president has some ideas about how we can better align federal assistance with a commitment on behalf of colleges to keep costs low for students," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said earlier this week. "And that will be part of something that the president will talk about this this week."
Glenn has been vocal about what he feels to be the shortcomings of high education for quite some time. While President Obama did reference the importance of reemphasizing vocational training during his State of the Union speech, on radio this morning, Glenn explained that government regulations have made it nearly impossible for businesses to offer students apprenticeship or internship opportunities.
“You know, the president is out today giving some stupid speech on how college education has gone up 250 percent. I got news for ya, Mr. President: since you've gotten into office, it's gone up a lot more than 250 percent,” Glenn said. “While he was talking about health care, education was going up in cost much faster. And why? Well, because we took it out of the free market system. It's been going through the roof ever since – what was it, the 1960s – when we started to say that government will give you special loans, they will make it cheaper for you to get a loan and everything else.”
Higher education has existed in this country for some 200 years, and yet the cost of pursuing higher education has only become a serious problem in the last several decades.
Why?
“We always had college education… It was there during the Revolutionary War. How come everybody could afford it before? How come the Ivy League was relatively affordable compared to now,” Glenn asked. “Well, because nobody was guaranteeing loans. And not everybody went to college. And not everybody should go to college. Not everybody needs to go to a four‑year college.”
President Obama will most certainly blame the rising costs on the universities when, in reality, it is government interference that is wreaking havoc on the system. Additionally, it is virtually impossible for businesses to offer opportunities to those who are not enrolled in college.
“Do you see what they're doing with interns now? White House interns work, I believe the average intern works 45 hours for free at the White House. Why? ‘Well, we're giving them an experience they wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.’ Really,” Glenn asked. “Well, how about if I have an intern? I can give them an experience they won't be able to find anyplace else. I can have them intern here? No, no, no. I've got to pay my interns… You have to pay for them now.”
“This is what progressives do, right? They remove competition,” Stu interjected. “They have this structure built with the universities in which they get to indoctrinate everybody. And the only way you can really learn an industry without going there is to get an internship and work your way up. Well, if you remove companies' incentive to do that, well, then you control everything.”
College is not for everyone, and Glenn is a perfect example of that. But the way the system is rigged today, there aren’t very many opportunities to break into an industry for those who do not earn a college degree.
“And you notice that you have to be going to a university or a college to become an intern,” Glenn said. “I can't just say, ‘Hey, you, you want to learn this? Come on in.’ No, no, no. You have to pass through the portal of an educational system to be able to come in here and work. I understand, we don't want anybody working slaves. We don't want any, you know, indentured servants. We don't want any of that. I got it. I got it.”
Stu explained that he got his start in radio because Glenn allowed him to work on his program and taught him the ropes. “This was a path I chose. I chose to work my butt off for free for several years, and you were very up front with me. You said, ‘Look, this is gonna suck for a while. What's going to happen in the next few years is probably going to suck, but if we can stick with it, work hard, and on our own merit make this into a giant company, someday you'll be rewarded,’” Stu said. “And you know what? It worked out because we worked together really hard to put something together like this.”
Glenn got his first job in radio at 13 years old, but there is no way he could employ a young, dedicated kid legally under today’s laws.
“At 13 years old, I'm working at a radio station,” Glenn said. “Could I hire a 13‑year‑old today? Could I hire a 10‑year‑old today? I would love to hire some kid that had the same desire… Now, I can't hire him. I can't have him walking around doing stuff. Of course, that would be illegal. That would be horrible. I would love to put a kid in an entry role and say, ‘You're going to learn absolutely everything about television. I want you to stand next to the camera. Whatever that camera guy tells you to do, you do.’”
“And I would gladly do that. Gladly do that. But the government won't let me do that,” he concluded. “Why? There's too much money to be made in education. There's too much power to be gained if we can just churn out a bunch of rubes.”