United Liberty

Well, DC, you did the impossible. You got dumber. From Fox News:

Lawmakers in the nation’s capital have floated a plan to require high school students to apply to college or trade school — even if the students have no interest in attending.

The proposal is a bid to ensure students in the troubled Washington, D.C., school system at least have the know-how to navigate the admissions process.

D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, who introduced the bill, said the proposal would establish a “mandatory workshop” to teach teenagers how to apply for aid and admission. It would then require everybody to apply to at least one post-secondary school before graduation.

“I believe that every child should have the opportunity, even if they don’t go, to at least apply to a college,” he said as he introduced the bill Wednesday.

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t take it out on all of DC. But Mr. Brown, you sir, are a moron.

In a time where the value of college is plummeting while the cost of said college education and the unemployment rate among recent college graduates is increasing, such a suggestion is mind boggingly boneheaded. Apparently, Brown forgot that most colleges charge around $50-$75 for an application, in effect making this dumb idea a tax on poor students and their families, and a gimme to already well off educational institutions—who are then going to just throw the applications in the trash anyways. (If you haven’t heard, DC public schools are horrendous.) Oh, no wait, he didn’t forget, as the article adds “Brown said he would work with the school system to make sure students have the ‘resources’ to apply,” or in other words, make this dumb idea a tax on poor students and their families in DC.

And then there’s the thing about “opportunity.” Without this bill, they still have opportunity to apply, they just exercise their choice and don’t—which, looking at the insane costs of college, is probably a smart idea.

What I really can’t get is how this is complicated. Look, you find a college you want to go to, you submit an application, get letters of recommendations from your teachers, and write an admission essay. I will admit, the third part can be tough, so there’s certain room for tutoring and assistance there, but an entire workshop for the process? “Here. Click. Fill out these boxes. You’re done. Now let’s eat cheetos for the next forty minutes of this class.” Is it really that hard?

And some people wonder why libertarians don’t trust the government to get anything right. Well, here’s your answer as to why.