The one job I would want in DOGE.
I am most grateful for my work. But there is one job that I would have considered to be a dream position: skipper of a nuclear ballistic submarine. Ohio-Class subs are old but their 24 MIRVed missiles still hold more destructive power than all of the weapons used during both world wars. Having responsibility for the same would be awesome.
One job that I might also like to have would be the guy from DOGE who interacts with America’s universities. I am sure that they have not just one but multiple people in that role. Universities, for better or worse, are still a necessary part of the American landscape. An advanced economy needs trained people, and it is almost impossible to get a job at a serious company without some diploma hanging on the wall. The problem is that much of the leftwing destruction of norms and values either originate or are greatly amplified at campuses throughout the country. When I was at Harvard forty years ago, conservative professors were already rare and the students were liberal. The students from my days would be considered downright MAGA when compared to today’s group. A woman at Harvard in 2016 said that she had to hide her support for Hilary Clinton as all of the campus had become Bernie Bros.
While indoctrination of young minds certainly occurs in many K-12 systems, the amplification and the creation of hardcore lefties generally occur at college. The DOGE folks need to push colleges and universities towards an even playing field. As things stand right now, 90% or more of students and faculty identify as liberal or further left and donate in similar percentages to the Democratic Party. Schools boast all kinds of “diversity”; intellectual diversity is the one type that is sorely missing. So how can DOGE and the Trump administration help get schools back to teaching and out of the indoctrination business? There are several levers.
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*The first thing that they should do is to get the US out of backing student loans. While some deserving students may not be able to afford college without such an arrangement, the economic and personal issues of choosing to go to college will be recalibrated. Today, everybody just seems to go to college. When banks only give loans based on honest risk assessment, few will be studying trans weather prediction in pre-Enlightenment France. Those who risk taking loans will study subjects that will allow them to make money to pay them back.
*Use federal funding in a carrot/stick mode. No modern university exists in the US that does not lean heavily on federal funding for research and other areas of campus activity. NIH alone has a $47 billion budget and is the single largest funder of biomedical research. Much of a science professor’s time is spent writing grant applications so as to fund students, post-docs and needed laboratory equipment. While industry does put a lot of money into university research, for decades the US government has been the major provider of funds. Those funds should come with some serious strings attached. A university that does not support free speech or coddles students who threaten Jewish or other students should have its federal funding reduced or ended. The US has a strong interest in higher educational institutions being close to neutrality on social issues, and funding requirements can be one way to get the universities back to their long-forgotten primary goal of training the next generation of American doctors, lawyers, scientists, inventors, business people, etc.
*For too long, American university performance has been a black box. And while accreditation is often given by private organizations, the US government should demand metrics as to the value of a university education. Each school should be required to provide data on graduation rates: how many from the Freshman class graduate in four years? What are starting salaries for all fields for graduates from the previous years? An exit exam should be given to see how far students have progressed in their intellectual training, beyond going to football games and attending keg parties. The US government should publish all of these data along with the cost for each school. What we will see is the true value of going to college. What schools have students showing the greatest intellectual growth? Which universities graduate the highest percentage of those who enter? What colleges have the best remunerated graduates, and in what fields are they making the most money?
*Finally, DOGE should work with a few schools to combine bachelors and advanced degrees. In the European system, which is used here in Israel, a student goes directly into medical studies from high school. A US bachelors is useful for many occupations, but any advanced degree only starts after four years of college. Another four years of medical school and then doing the rounds: can’t we reduce the whole load for students who know from the get-go that they want to be doctors? Same for lawyers and others. The savings in spending by shaving a few years off of university training could be enormous. Students would be in their professional field sooner and there would be less time for courses like The Theory of the Pancake in Northern Ireland Literature pre-1900.
DOGE can save a great deal of money via the universities. From greater oversight to reduced funding based on faculty and student performance, the US government can save billions while making colleges and universities more effective and less active in brainwashing unemployable graduates.
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