Apparently They Don't Know

I was shocked to hear last week that the University of Wisconsin system is seeing an increase in applications from international students.  Overseas applications are up 14-percent this year--which is a sharp departure from the narrative that we hear when it comes to the UW System and society in general.

I mean, the kids hoping to attend school here must not know about the "devastating impact" Governor Scott Walker's budget cuts are having on the UW.  They are apparently unaware that they will be arriving to a university that is " a shell of its former self"--and that their professors will have to spend more time teaching them in the classroom than taking time off to write books or do their "research".  Maybe the state Democratic Party needs to send their press releases to the schools in these other countries to warn the kids thinking about a UW education.

And don't these students know that the United States is full of xenophobic racists?  Aren't they afraid that Ann Coulter or Ben Shapiro (people they have never heard of) might come to the campus to speak about enforcing immigration laws (in events that those foreign students wouldn't even know were being held--until activist student groups block entry to the lecture hall to those who want to attend and then clash with campus police turning it into a major news story)?  Perhaps MSNBC isn't carried on the satellite or cable TV services in those other countries.

Let's not forget that there are lawmakers that want to allow concealed guns on campus too.  How could those students coming from countries where private gun ownership is expressly banned or the government keeps lists of those that own guns possibly feel safe knowing that anyone in their classroom or dorm has a firearm?  Wouldn't they want to stay in all of those other countries where everyone dies a peaceful death and police with batons are required to take on armed terrorists?

But what baffles me the most is why these kids would want to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get their college degrees here?  Don't they know it's a "basic human right" to get free secondary education?  Some of these applicants live in countries where all they have to do is show up asking to take classes and they won't be charged a Euro--that must make it the best possible education you can get, right?  Apparently, Bernie Sanders' speeches don't get as much attention over there as they did here for awhile.

So welcome international students to one of our UW campuses.  This is sure to be the worst experience of your life--which is why so many others want to share it as well.