Billions Unaccounted For, Misaligned Incentives, and a Practical Blueprint for Fixing America’s Higher Education System
By Daniel Stih
America’s education system is collapsing under its own contradictions, ballooning costs, corporate influence, bureaucratic bloat, and cultural hypocrisy. You can feel it whether you’re a parent trying to get your teenager through high school, a student working two jobs to pay off student loans, or a taxpayer wondering why institutions with billion-dollar endowments still demand more money from you.
The truth is simple: We spend billions. Students drown in debt. Harvard sues the taxpayer. And no one can explain where the money goes. It’s time to rethink everything from how we fund education to what we consider “learning” in the first place. This article lays it all out — the problem, the hypocrisy, and a workable, innovation-driving solution.
The Harvard Problem: Billions In, No Answers Out
When news broke that Harvard was resisting a presidential request for accountability — threatening to sue the government (meaning you, the taxpayer) rather than explain how it uses federal funds — I thought I misread the number. Nearly $4.4 billion received since 2017. Nearly half a billion this year alone. Not all universities — just Harvard. Barack Obama praised Harvard for “resisting unlawful attempts to stifle academic freedom” by refusing to account for the money. Let’s break that sentence down:
- How does withholding money “stifle” academic freedom?
- Are students unable to think unless Congress deposits another $500 million?
- With a $7 million endowment per student, is Harvard really in danger of losing its ability to foster debate?
The claim only makes sense if you assume federal money is required for free thought, which is absurd. Harvard has so much money it could refuse every dollar and never notice. Instead, they sue us - the taxpayers who funded them in the first place.
You and I can’t afford Harvard. My nephews couldn’t attend college without years of family saving and sacrifice. Yet we are forced to subsidize an institution that refuses transparency and claims victimhood when asked for accountability. This isn’t just a Harvard problem. It’s a system problem.
The Myth of “Academic Freedom” on Campus
Let’s talk honestly. Do Harvard students even have free speech? Harvard ranks dead last in national free-speech evaluations. Examples:
- Professor Carol Hoeven, an evolutionary biologist, was pushed out for stating the biological reality of sex.
- Misinformation expert Joan Donovan was fired after criticizing Meta — whose charitable arm had donated $500 million to Harvard.
Money doesn’t protect freedom. Money distorts it.When universities complain about “academic freedom being threatened,” what they often mean is: They want federal money without federal accountability. They’ll weaponize the language of oppression to get it.
Why Are We Funding Elites When Ordinary Americans Struggle to Attend College?
Here’s the real scandal: We give billions to institutions with vast endowments while millions of Americans take on crushing debt just for the chance to learn. If higher education is so important, why isn’t it free? Why did Congress approve billions for universities before ensuring every citizen had equal access to education? The system was never designed around learning. Tt was designed around labor and industry.
Higher education in the U.S. expanded not out of a love for knowledge but because Henry Ford needed more “educated workers” for his factories. Not engineers. Not philosophers. Just workers who could read instructions. Our system evolved from that same industrial mindset:
- Funnel people into jobs
- Not into meaningful lives
- And certainly not into discovering their natural gifts
Education became a sorting system, not a cultivating one.
Why the Department of Education Was Never the Answer
Most Americans assume the Department of Education is central to public schooling. But historically, the department’s job was closer to bookkeeping than teaching. Its four main functions include:
- Managing federal financial aid
- Collecting educational data
- Conducting research
- Highlighting educational issues
None of this improves actual teaching. Financial aid? A smokescreen for bank-issued loans with interest. Collecting data? We already have AI and Google. Data is only useful if someone uses it to create policy, and education policy is local anyway (property taxes, district budgets, state boards). Research? Millions spent on reports that never translate into real change. The Department of Education has been a middleman — expensive, ineffective, and unnecessary.
The Real Problems No One Talks About
1. Standardized Testing Has Nothing To Do With Learning
A test score only measures how you performed at one moment in time, not what you know, not how you think, not who you can become. A student who knows the material but had an awful day gets punished for life; A student who memorized answers but understands nothing gets rewarded. Tests measure stress responsiveness, not intelligence.
Solution: Get rid of standardized testing entirely.
Replace grades with simple pass/fail assessments focused on mastery, not memorization.
2. Technology Is Hurting More Than Helping
Phones and laptops in the classroom don’t level the playing field — they widen the gap. Some schools have the latest devices; Others can barely keep the lights on. And everywhere you look, attention spans evaporate.
Solution: Outlaw phones and computers on K-12 campuses.
Use physical textbooks and pen-and-paper learning, just like the engineers who designed the Apollo missions and the Concorde. Computers belong in the computer science lab, not in the hands of distracted teenagers.
3. Teachers’ Unions Protect Teachers — Not Students
This is the elephant in the room. In my nephew’s school district, teachers refused to start class at 9:00 AM — even though every student wanted it and every study shows later start times improve learning. Why? Teachers wanted to be home by 3:00 PM. That is not student-centered education.
Solution:
- Allow anyone who demonstrates subject mastery to teach.
- Remove unnecessary licensing barriers.
- Restore discipline by holding parents accountable for disruptive behavior.
4. Student Loans Are a Trap, Not an Investment
If the government truly believed education was essential:
- Loans would carry 0% interest
- Loans would be issued as credit, not debt
- Banks would not profit from the desire to learn
Student debt exists for one reason: It’s profitable.
The Solution: A Voucher-Based Model That Fixes Everything
Here’s the simple, elegant fix:
Every American gets a free education voucher at age 18.
This voucher:
- Works at any participating college or trade school
- Has equal value regardless of institution
- Cannot be used to enrich schools with poor performance
- Empower students, not institutions
- Costs nothing new — we already spend the money
Think BMI/ASCAP (the collection of money for music licenses, and the distribution of that money to songwriters based on what songs were played) for education:
- Schools voluntarily participate
- At the end of the year, federal funds are divided based on actual student enrollment
- Feedback from students determines whether a school can remain in the program
- New, innovative schools can emerge
- Poor performers die off naturally
This creates real competition, not artificial prestige.
What About Graduate School?
Separate issue.Most abuses in higher education stem from universities competing for research dollars tied to industry. Industry contracts distort undergraduate education.
Solution: Move industry research off-campus entirely.
Let higher education return to higher learning.
A Fair Warning to Harvard Students
There are exceptional students at Harvard — talented, hardworking, visionary. Some are there on scholarship and earned their way through pure effort. This critique is not aimed at them. If you’re at Harvard, especially on a scholarship, I hope you use your position to question the system, challenge conformity, and speak freely, even if your own institution discourages it. That’s what real education looks like.
The Bottom Line
Our education system is broken because it was never designed to cultivate thinkers. It was designed to produce workers, generate profit, and protect institutional prestige. We don’t need more committees. We don’t need more data. We don’t need more bureaucracy. We need reform rooted in logic, fairness, and human potential.
The solution is:
- Free education for every American
- Fund the student, not the school
- Remove the influence of banks and corporate money
- Restore true learning, curiosity, and critical thinking
- Build a system worthy of the people it serves
Education shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be a right, and a path to becoming the kind of humans we were meant to be.
This article helps you think clearly in a noisy world, cut through misinformation, and find solutions as applied to education and learning.