Analogies can be useful because they give us insight and help to understand concepts. For example Albert Einstein explained radio thus:
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
Neal McCluskey has an interesting analogy:
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For a junkie, a "crisis" is being un able to get the drugs he craves. American higher education is just such a junkie - with the federal government acting as the enabler who gives him another fix, rather than pointing him toward rehab.
In its latest beg for a fix, Higher Ed cries that the credit crunch will make it harder for students to get loans. Last week, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings rushed in to enable the junkies - announcing that, if needed to keep aid flowing, her department will buy loans and forward federal money to guaranty agencies to ensure that every eligible student gets as much aid as possible.
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His conclusion is: "The Ivory Tower is addicted to taxpayer cash, and Washington is happy to keep the junkie hooked."
To an extent I agree that government schools are like junkies. They have gotten used to demanding more money, for decades. The analogy also implies that the solution is for the government to cut the junkies off cold turkey.
I think our country would be better off if the government stopped giving money directly and went with solutions like vouchers which allowed parents and students more choice. The schools couldn't keep complaining to the government that they needed more money, they would have to entice customers, or shrink as students (and the money) went to better performing schools.
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