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Today, ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ITT) announced that it is closing all of its ITT Technical Institute campuses. For most of the world, that news will be covered as a business story or a political one, but I know that for you it is deeply personal. You are probably wondering what this means for your future; how it is going to affect your finances and your ability to continue your education.
In recent years, ITT has increasingly been the subject of numerous state and federal investigations. In August, ITT's accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) determined that ITT "is not in compliance, and is unlikely to become in compliance with [ACICS] Accreditation Criteria." This came amid increasingly heightened financial oversight measures put in place by the Department over the past two years due to significant concerns about ITT's administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability, and ability to serve students.
[...] Whatever you choose to do, do not give up on your education. Higher education remains the clearest path to economic opportunity and security. Restarting or continuing your education at a high-quality, reputable institution may feel like a setback today, but odds are it will pay off in the long run. There are people and tools – like our College Scorecard – out there to help you pick a program that gives you a real shot at success.
I am proud of your hard work and dedication, and we will do all we can to continue to provide information to you on your options.
Sincerely,
John B. King Jr., U.S. Secretary of Education
Source: Department of Education
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 07 2016, @02:35PM
i think it's pretty obvious to even a layman why this is. these other countries have been full blown socialists longer. we have some unholy mix of socialism and crony capitalism/fascism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 07 2016, @06:19PM
What you are describing is Liberal Democracy AKA Social Democracy AKA Christian Democracy.
They still have an Oligarcy, but that is under reasonable control.
It's the kind of thing USA had under FDR, before the ownership-class-friendly Republicans and their Neoliberal Donkey Party cohorts ruined it once again.
Socialism means "Democracy EVERYWHERE".
If you don't have democracy in your workplace, what you have is **not** Socialism.
Socialism is also anti-Capitalism.
I assure you there is no **nation** on the planet which has ever achieved such a setup.
While there are some places (Cuba, Venezuela) which *claim* to be "socialist", they haven't moved to put the power into the hands of the people and replace a traditional ownership class with worker ownership of the means of production.
(Top-down centralized planning isn't "socialist" either.)
Now, there are some workplaces (Mondragon, in Spain; workplaces in northern Italy since 1985 under the Maracora plan; [google.com] farming collectives in China) which -are- Socialist.
Actual Socialism, however, hasn't ever spread to encompass an entire governmental region and certainly not a country.
(Yugoslavia came close, but Tito could and did crush anything he thought would threaten his power.)
The town of Marinaleda in Spain has a Socialist mayor and pushes a community-centric approach. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [jacobinmag.com]
(It's so great there that they disbanded their police force.)
Getting back to northern Europe, when Sweden tried their brand of "socialism" back in 1981, [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [csmonitor.com] the voters there rejected it.
That was kinda-sorta Collectivism but it WASN'T Socialism; it didn't have actual worker ownership.
(When YOU own something, YOU make the decisions about that something.)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]