{"id":23387,"date":"2022-08-29T12:25:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T19:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=23387"},"modified":"2022-08-29T12:25:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T19:25:56","slug":"the-origin-of-student-debt-reagan-adviser-warned-free-college-would-create-a-dangerous-educated-proletariat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/08\/29\/the-origin-of-student-debt-reagan-adviser-warned-free-college-would-create-a-dangerous-educated-proletariat\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ORIGIN OF STUDENT DEBT: REAGAN ADVISER WARNED FREE COLLEGE WOULD CREATE A DANGEROUS \u201cEDUCATED PROLETARIAT\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

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Gov. Ronald Reagan explains his requested shutdown of California\u2019s higher education system in Sacramento, Calif. on May 6, 1970.\u00a0Photo: Bettmann Archive<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1970, Roger Freeman, who also worked for Nixon, revealed the right\u2019s motivation for coming decades of attacks on higher education.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Jon Schwarz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

August 25 2022, 1:57\u00a0p.m. (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WITH THE vociferous debate over President Joe Biden\u2019s announcement<\/a> that the federal government will cancel a portion of outstanding student debt, it\u2019s important to understand how Americans came to owe the current cumulative total of more than $1.6 trillion for higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1970, Ronald Reagan was running for reelection as governor of California. He had first won in 1966 with confrontational rhetoric toward the University of California public college system and executed confrontational policies when in office. In May 1970, Reagan had shut down all 28 UC and Cal State campuses in the midst of student protests against the Vietnam War and the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. On October 29, less than a week before the election, his education adviser Roger A. Freeman spoke at a press conference to defend him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/o.prod.theintercept.com\/checkout\/template\/cacheableShow?aid=hsZyoAWmIE&templateId=OTEXERHVRCE9&templateVariantId=OTVEIU52VT7IF&offerId=fakeOfferId&experienceId=EX3LBE28N473&iframeId=offer_d95877cf7d9b23ea09ec-0&displayMode=inline&pianoIdUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fid.tinypass.com%2Fid%2F&widget=template&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freeman\u2019s remarks were reported the next day in the San Francisco Chronicle under the headline \u201cProfessor Sees Peril in Education.\u201d According to the Chronicle article, Freeman said, \u201cWe are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. \u2026 That\u2019s dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow [to go to college].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf not,\u201d Freeman continued, \u201cwe will have a large number of highly trained and unemployed people.\u201d Freeman also said \u2014 taking a highly idiosyncratic perspective on the cause of fascism \u2014\u201cthat\u2019s what happened in Germany. I saw it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Biden cancels (some) student debt, remember why the debt exists. A key Reagan advisor warned in 1970 that free college was producing the dangerously explosive "dynamite" of an "educated proletariat," and "we have to be selective on who we allow to go through higher education": pic.twitter.com\/SWqZFRRTuN<\/a><\/p>— Jon Schwarz, Mayor, Arkham MA (@schwarz) August 24, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>