Musings of an Educational Entrepreneur

By Benjamin Franklin

This column gives education leaders the opportunity to discuss higher education issues. For more information contact Jenny Faubert at 920-264-0199 or jfaubert@careereducationreview.net.

Hi! Ben Franklin here. I just read that Maryland, one of our original colonies, has passed a law to prohibit for-profit educational institutions from convert to not-for-profit corporations. You would have thought that these legislators would have learned something from our glorious revolution. When I started my academy, we did not think about the corporate structure, purely of serving the needs of the students and their future employers.

When the King passed bad legislation and enforced retaliatory regulations, we revolted.

It gets even worse when the government passes rules like gainful employment, 90/10, and other measures that similar to the British, help the Tories (Public Universities) and hurt the rebels/patriots (for-profit schools).

In the case of the Obama administration and Robert Shireman’s never-ending battle against the for-profits schools, the radicals like Shireman, Durban, Harris, and Maxine Waters, as well as, the progressive organizations, such as, The Century Foundation, the Center for American Progress and New America, will not stop until they destroy an entire sector and all of the students and employees who are part of this sector. Their vicious attacks, which never seem to end, make me want to label them as Edu-terrorists. They want a scorched earth policy. Even if an institution gives its investment to the community to protect its students and employees and switch to non-profit classification, they are not satisfied until they are dead. They are unconcerned with the tens-of-thousands of students they destroy when they force schools to close. They blame owners for closed schools when the rules become over-burdensome.

Maybe, some of you have seen the movie, “The Patriot,” with Mel Gibson. This account of our revolution provides a good backdrop for the similarities between today and 250 years ago. Remember when a British colonel found a church, in which, there were rebel sympathizers? He barred the door and burned down the church with all of its parishioners. He believed that all rebels, and those who were associated with them, should die. By closing the door on schools trying to survive by changing their corporate classification, the Edu-terrorists destroy thousands of lives.

The Edu-terrorists, like political terrorists, bomb indiscriminately by attempting to sew fear into the hearts of the American public. They manufacture propaganda to fit their populist narrative, in order to, scare the public about educational institutions that have served the American public since the birth of our great nation. Their quasi-Socialist agenda promotes free education in government-owned schools, no matter how poor the quality and/or performance of each taxpayer-supported institution. The only choice they see is the government-owned school choice, which is financed by lawyers from local, state, and federal agencies, supported by taxpayer dollars. These Edu-terrorists have been supported by the unions, such as the American Federation of Teachers. Alternatively, the private sector has not been unionized and are a threat to government-owned institutions. These Edu-terrorists will not stop at the destruction of the for-profit sector. Their actions will spread into the non-profit sector and eventually the public sectors.

The bombs they throw will create vast collateral damage on many institutions, and more importantly, upon the thousands of students who will be hurt from this disruption.

When I met with the loyalists before our glorious revolutionary war, I warned them of the harm that the King’s oppression would have on our society. I beseech all who read this missive, to call your representatives, senators, and other community leaders to put a stop to this needless terrorism. America has relied on private sector higher education throughout its history, and we need to celebrate this important institution, and not destroy it.