Private colleges

[Eamon Arasbard]

 

When you become a subsistence farmer, with a pittance of the values that many people like you possess because they trade with dollars in a thriving economy that you're trying to reinvent from scratch...

 

How did you get from me growing vegetables and not going to a government-funded college to becoming a subsistence farmer? I'm not planning to do anything close to what you're suggesting, and I don't think the vast majority of people who practice agorism do it that way either.

 

I trade dollars for things that add value to my life, just like everyone else. That doesn't mean that I believe trading fake paper money that the Federal Reserve can inflate at will to redistribute wealth to crony corporations is a system which it is in my self-interest to support.

 

By your logic, John Galt, and everyone who went on strike with him, were ignorant morons who should have ended up as subsistence farmers.

[softwareNerd]

How did you get from me growing vegetables and not going to a government-funded college to becoming a subsistence farmer?

I grow some veggies too.... for fun. When it comes to economics, it makes no impact to my life. The leap to subsistence farming goes like this: if you take things seriously and stop dealing with all the people around you who are in favor of all sorts of government intrusions... just ordinarily productive people.... not as a symbolic thing with a few close friends, but seriously... you limit yourself to a tiny economy that will not produce much. Of course, if you're serious, you cannot buy tools from industrial firms, leave alone power tools, or tractors, or cars. You could never buy gas, pharmaceuticals, or visit a hospital.

 

I trade dollars for things that add value to my life, just like everyone else. That doesn't mean that I believe trading fake paper money that the Federal Reserve can inflate at will to redistribute wealth to crony corporations is a system which it is in my self-interest to support.

But, you use those dollars precisely for self-interest. It would be a huge sacrifice to give them up. You would have to forgo all sorts of values.

As for "crony corporations" this is simply a reification of corporations. It is the same thing you do when you talk of government. Corporations are primarily a bunch of people. And, these are not some special breed of aristocrat. Many of these people grew up in your neighborhood, got great grades, attended top colleges, and were recruited by corporations. These are not some evil species. On average, they're brighter and more rational than their peers. And, the shareholders of corporations are all across America, whether directly or through various pension funds. When you speak of government and crony-corps as if they're some group mostly outside of regular folk, you betray your own lack of knowledge of the people who make up these entities.

 

By your logic, John Galt, and everyone who went on strike with him, were ignorant morons who should have ended up as subsistence farmers.

Maybe the book should have come with a warning to readers not to go on strike if it meant living a life devoid of values!

Added:

 

On the original topic of a college, I have one more comment. On any particular subject (physics or anything else) if you could rank all the colleges in the country that teach that subject using academic quality as the only criteria, the bottom half are probably not worth attending at all. 

 

Candidly, I feel disappointed when I see fans of Rand who think they must alienate themselves from greater society. I'm reminded of John Allison's answer to someone who asked him what he should do to promote Objectivism, and he replied "Become very successful" (my paraphrase). 

 

Nevertheless, obviously, you have to chose to do what you think right... nobody here would want to to do something different just because someone else said so. So, all the best to you, whatever road you take.

Edited July 5, 2014 by softwareNerd

[Eiuol]

I'm currently looking for a private, non-government-funded university where I can go to study physics.

I'm curious, what is your goal in studying physics? Do you want to be a research physicist, for example?

[Eamon Arasbard]

 

I grow some veggies too.... for fun. When it comes to economics, it makes no impact to my life.

 

Why not sell them for silver? You'd be making a profit in a currency which has actual, objective value which can't be sucked away by the Federal Reserve. And, if you could find others who believe in the same thing, and convince them to trade with you, then you've already created the base for a transition by the market away from fake paper money to real, sound money.

 

 

The leap to subsistence farming goes like this: if you take things seriously and stop dealing with all the people around you who are in favor of all sorts of government intrusions... just ordinarily productive people.... not as a symbolic thing with a few close friends, but seriously... you limit yourself to a tiny economy that will not produce much.

 

That's not what I'm planning to do. Of course agorism has to be done in a way which is concistent with reality, and it also is not rational to condemn people for using a currency which, up to this point, has been the only option. I don't support ostracizing statists, either. If I did, I'd have to stop associating with almost all of my friends.

 

 

But, you use those dollars precisely for self-interest. It would be a huge sacrifice to give them up. You would have to forgo all sorts of values.

 

Of course, which is why I don't do that. Especially since I would probably starve. But this doesn't mean that supporting a transition to sound money is not in my self-interest.

 

 

As for "crony corporations" this is simply a reification of corporations. It is the same thing you do when you talk of government. Corporations are primarily a bunch of people. And, these are not some special breed of aristocrat. Many of these people grew up in your neighborhood, got great grades, attended top colleges, and were recruited by corporations. These are not some evil species. On average, they're brighter and more rational than their peers. And, the shareholders of corporations are all across America, whether directly or through various pension funds. When you speak of government and crony-corps as if they're some group mostly outside of regular folk, you betray your own lack of knowledge of the people who make up these entities.

 

I'll respond to this briefly -- first, I believe that most of the founders and shareholders of corporations are people who want to make an honest profit, and of course I support this. However, there are certain corporations run by people who are just parasites who use government-granted privilege to profit at the expense of those who earn wealth honestly. And I would say that any institution which is based on coercion is evil, regardless of whether or not the people in it are "like me."

 

 

On the original topic of a college, I have one more comment. On any particular subject (physics or anything else) if you could rank all the colleges in the country that teach that subject using academic quality as the only criteria, the bottom half are probably not worth attending at all.

 

Then I will keep this in mind while I looke for somewhere to go to college.

 

 

Nevertheless, obviously, you have to chose to do what you think right... nobody here would want to to do something different just because someone else said so. So, all the best to you, whatever road you take.

 

Thank you.

 

 

I'm curious, what is your goal in studying physics? Do you want to be a research physicist, for example?

 

Yeah, I'd like to become a researcher, as long as I can fund my research through market means. So ideally, I would probably be an R&D contractor for different manufacturing firms, and the profits I made on that to fund my own lab.

[Eamon Arasbard]

Update: Someone I know on another forum just sent me this link:

 

http://uopeople.edu/groups/mission_statement

 

This organization identifies itself as a non-profit, meaning it is probably at least in part privately funded, and does not charge tuition. (I have not yet checked where they do get their money from, however.) At a bare minimum, it at least does not appear to be part of the mainstream college system, meaning that it is probably not a crony of the state. Supporting it also does not contribute to social gentrification which contributes to distortions in people's utility as workers.

 

Edited to add: It is funded through minor fees placed on students enrolled in classes, which are much lower than tuition rates:

 

 

In order to remain sustainable, UoPeople charges small processing fees for application ($10-$50) and examination processing ($100/per end-of-course exam).

 

For those individuals who are unable to pay their Exam Processing Fees, UoPeople works extremely hard to ensure that no student of UoPeople is left out of higher education for financial reasons.

 

It does not sound like any of their funding comes from the state.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Eamon Arasbard

[Nicky]

I thought you wanted to study Physics.

[Nicky]

Edited to add: It is funded through minor fees placed on students enrolled in classes, which are much lower than tuition rates

Here's what I found out after a quick google search.

1. The People's University is a private charity, funded through donations (the minor fees students pay are a tiny fraction of their funding). They don't have any kind of a policy against accepting taxpayer money.

2. They have a partnership with at least one UN agency, with NYU and with the government of Abu Dhabi.

3. They offer degrees in computer science and business management. Not Physics.

On the upside, they are an actual school, trying to teach actual skills, not just a degree factory. But they operate internationally, which means their standards are far, far lower than of American colleges. They're just looking to give a recognized degree to people with no access to higher education in their home countries.

Since you're lucky enough to be living in the US, where higher education is widely available and of a high quality, you'd be best served attending an American university.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Nicky