University promotes elitism through brainwashing and social engineering

A few years ago I had to write a paper for a college class - here it is.
October 11, 2012
Reflections On My College Experiences
A long time ago in a far away land called Minnesota, I went to school. It was a time when social engineering had not occurred to most public school system. Oh, there was some, such as requiring us to take the sugar cube because everyone feared polio, the plague of the ’50s. Where I went to school there were Indians (now called Native Americans), Italians, Finns (now called Finnish) etc. Therefore, I grew up with the notion that people are just people. When I saw on TV all the upset about segregation, it amazed me that people could be judged just by how they looked. I did not deny that it was so. I just could not believe that anyone, black or white, could be so dumb as to judge just by grouping. I find this still going on today when I am corrected for calling someone colored, but I don’t correct them when they try to call me “An Anglo”. I don’t believe there is a drop of English blood in me. Why not just say white – it is just a descriptive word and I sure am a pale face. This explains my problem.
I am here to observe not to correct, judge, and influence, even though that is the modus operandi of the college. I should restrict myself to picking up what facts I can, try to understand what is going on in society and why it is moving in the direction it is. Being human, this is very hard for me because I judge and, when I can, correct and influence. I have a hard time going against this nature that resides in me as it does in all of us. All should be allowed their own worldview that makes them happy, providing that they are not serial killers. I chose to come here to view and try to understand. Restraining myself is very difficult.
University promotes elitism through brainwashing and social engineering. My motives for attending are vastly different than most students. I do not have children to worry about, or jobs or the desire for a prestigious job, or a great paying job (which, by the way, a degree doesn’t ensure). I was also told by an acquaintance (whom now has her masters degree) that the only way to get through college is to just tell them what they want to hear (if you do not want to disappear-physically in china or metaphorically now in the US). I read the same idea in a book called Brain Washing in Red China by Edward Hunter. Did the red Chinese learn from us or did we learn from them?
When teachers say that those without a degree are bumps that don’t do anything they are promoting elitism – saying that those with a degree are better than those in the trades or secretaries or even entrepreneurs. Are we back to the question of judging by groups again? Then college is not so much about education as it is about believing their way is the only way. Degree holders are not better than plumbers or steel workers, just different. When your toilet is broke and foul water is spewing all over you house are you going to call someone with a PHD or call a plumber? When your car breaks down what are you going to do call some one who has a degree or take it to the mechanic?
There are many who have degrees that cannot find a job, have large student loans and end up driving truck or welding, etc. Belittling those without a degree is elitism. I believe balancing the scale between specialist and generalist is very important for society. Both groups deserve respect.
Age has nothing to do with understanding. For some of us it takes 60 years to gain a little wisdom. For some, like Jesus, it was only 12. (Luke 2:47) Or likes the high school student, 17-year-old Angela Zhang of Cupertino, California mentioned below just a few years more. Ego and belief in ones abilities is a double edge sword – some helps you get where you want to go but too much leads to a down fall. Here are a few examples of people to whom a degree made no difference.

“Abraham Lincoln was a totally self-educated man.” Burns
2.Bill Gates – “High School: Lakeside School, Seattle, WA University: Harvard University (dropped out)” Soylent Communications
Alexander Graham Bell – “Alexander Graham Bell was home schooled by his mother, who instilled in him an infinite curiosity about the world around him. He received one year of formal education in a private school and two years at Edinburgh's Royal High School. Though a mediocre student, he displayed an uncommon ability to solve problems.” Bio.com
Thomas Edison – “Edison had very little formal education as a child, attending school only for a few months. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother, but was always a very curious child and taught himself much by reading on his own. This belief in self-improvement remained throughout his life.” Bellis
5.Nicola Tesla’s Mother – “He credited his innovative quest to his mother, an inventive homemaker who created appliances such as a mechanical eggbeater to help with the home and farm. Tesla studied at the Realschule in Karlstadt, the University of Prague, and the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria, where he studied mechanical and electrical engineering.” Schwartz
Steve Jobs – “Jobs recounted the story of his brief college experience: at seventeen years old, he enrolled in college and then dropped out six months later. He recalled that "I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure that out." Yet he did not disappear entirely from the college scene. He stayed in town, sleeping on friends’ floors and dropping into some college classes that he found interesting. First and foremost among these was a calligraphy class.” Damon
“It's a research paper Angela wrote in her spare time -- and it is advanced, to say the least. Gupta says all she knows is its recipe -- for curing cancer. Angela recently entered her project in the national Siemens science contest. It was no contest. She got a check for $100,000 and promptly bought about a dozen more pairs of shoes. ‘I'm excited to learn just everything possible,’ she said. ‘Everything in the sciences -- biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, even computer science -- to make new innovations possible’." Hartman
8.Adolf Hitler (ego got him where he wanted to go)- “At the age of fifteen he did so badly in his examinations that he was told he would have to repeat the whole year's work again. Hitler hated the idea and managed to persuade his mother to allow him to leave school without a secondary education qualification..... He spent most of the morning in bed reading and in the afternoon he walked around Vienna studying buildings, visiting museums, and making sketches.” Spartacus Educational
Napoleon Bonaparte – “Although remarkably intelligent, Napoleon graduated 42nd in his class of 52.” Sparknotes. Even with education his ego lead to his downfall.
H.L. Hunt -reported to be the world's first billionaire. “I didn't go to high school, and I didn't go to grade school either. Education, I think, is for refinement and is probably a liability.” H.L. Hunt
I am here to observe and history will tell how the educational system has served our country. Now, if I can only keep my mouth shut, my emotions calm and let people have their own problems. I have enough problems of my own. I have observed that college has “trouble enough of its’ own” (Wilcox pg. 72) whether it is acknowledged or not.

Better still, here is a poem by E.V. Cooke (pg. 44) – just the first part.
How Did You Die?
Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
Or trouble is what you make it.
And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts,
But how did you take it?

Work Cited:
Bellis, Mary. About.com. Biography of Thomas Edison Guide. Web. 29Sept2012 http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventors/a/Edison_Bio.htm
Bio.com A+E Television Networks, LLC.© 1996–2012. Web. 29Sept2012. http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-graham-bell-9205497
Burns, Brian
South Middle School, Arlington Heights. A Real Education. Illinois History, A Magazine for Young People 1995. Web. 29Sept2012
http://www.lib.niu.edu/1995/ihy950229.html
Cooke, E.V. ‘How Did You Die?’ One Hundred and One Famous Poems. 1929. Cable Company Chicago
Damon, William. The Education of Steve Jobs. 16 September 2011. Web. 29Sept2012
http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/93066
Hartman, Steve. Calif. HS student devises possible cancer cure. 13Jan2012 Web. 29Sept2012
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57358994/calif-hs-student-devises-possible-cancer-cure/
Hunt, H. L. – Editors 2001 - 2012 BrainyQuote® Web. 29Sept2012 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/h_l_hunt.html#1yjSDXFz8EU8MKsf.99
Schwartz, Shelly. Contributing History Writer .A Biography of Inventor Nikola Tesla.Web.
http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/Tesla.htm
Soylent Communications. Copyright ©2012.Web. 29Sept2012
http://www.nndb.com/people/435/000022369/
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Napoleon Bonaparte.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 29Sept2012
http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/napoleon/section1.html
Spartacus Educational Publishers Ltd. Adolf Hitler. Web Site-Peter McMillian. Web. 29Sept2012
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. ‘Solitude”. One Hundred and One Famous Poems. 1929. Cable Company Chicago