Who is on "our" side?

[Herbert Spencer]

Everyone is on "our" side.

Getting back to the original question, "our" side certainly represents the mainstream. There are some people who feel that for various reasons they are entitled to prizes just for showing up, who want short cuts that aren't available to others. These may be affirmative action types who claim to be remedying ancient wrongs, or they may be elitists like Gollum, who calls ignoring the rules a tradition at his fancy school because he thinks he's special. Or they just may be lazy ass con artists of the Goose or Lefkowitz variety, who enjoy working the system and then laughing at it.

I understand why guys coming back from war might not want to sit through a semester of "Intro to Fundamental Basics." It makes sense to create a way for guys who have served their country to convert the experience to course credits. In this case a lazy guy might prefer to sleep through the semester and take the easy "A." Somebody who was motivated might prefer to take useful or challenging courses instead. Abuses don't necessarily justify eliminating the system, but the simple fact that the abusers are accredited doesn't vitiate clear abuses either.

Likewise, the fact that there are some knuckleheads out there who try to palm off bogus diplomas, or even bigger knuckeheads who don't bother to check on the existence or quality of the bogus issuer, should not deny people access to education or educators access to students. (Although the fact that they don't bother to check says a lot about how important they think it is.)

The government is not the solution, if anything it is the problem here. In this sense "our" side already knows this and protects the free market. The support groups are needed by the whining nanny state socialists who want big brother to save us all from ourselves. Their number continues to shrink as more people realize that we do a better job of saving ourselves than the government ever could.