>"How Higher Education in the US Was Destroyed in 5 Basic Steps":
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>http://www.alternet.org/how-higher-education-us-was-destroyed-5-basic-steps
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>I'm sure this applies to universities throughout the western world.

Sure. Wisdom we had 1990. Education is only for the wealthy ones. Sooner or later the same thing will happen down to primary school.
This is a very simple thing. Use the general question: Cui bono?
Education as we know it was made up to create the workers. White or blue collar, no diff there. They where needed for the industrial process.(And partially the safe them for military use, that's the prussian reason)
Industries are in China (...) those days, so why should one waste money?
Basic school will keep the kids from to early work that will cripple them, so military has it's cannon fodder.

Middle class is misleading. It means nothing in the sense of wealth.

Worker - those who owns nothing then there workforce
Middle class - those who use there own workforce in there own business
Capitalist - those who let the others use there workforce in the business owned (no matter how many wrappers) by c.

The names are weakend do split the people by income.