HOMESTEAD, FL - NOVEMBER 20: TV personality Mike Rowe stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 20, 2009 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Mike Rowe, former host of Dirty Jobs, wrote a post slamming university students who burn the U.S. flag.
On Wednesday, Rowe wrote a Facebook post regarding Hampshire College, a private liberal arts college in Massachusetts. The college recently removed their U.S. flag from campus after Donald Trump‘s victory in the election. University President Jonathan Lash explained that the school removed the flag so they can focus on tackling xenophobic rhetoric.
Rowe wrote: “I couldn’t help but wonder if President Lash was unaware that billions of people around the world are routinely subjected to horrific levels of racism, misogyny, and bigotry that far exceed any injustice in modern-day America. Furthermore, I was curious to know if President Lash really believed that removing our flag is a better way to assuage the fears of his frightened students, than simply educating them about the undeniable fact that no country on the planet affords its citizens more liberty than this one?”
Rowe also added that to his knowledge no student who attended a trade school has ever burned the flag. In his opinion, only students from expensive universities were capable of that. Rowe then referenced an episode of his web short series, Hot Under the Blue Collar. He wrote about those who attend trade school:
“In my experience, for what it’s worth, the many, many hundreds of people that I’ve met — they’re happy. Because it’s meaningful. It’s meaningful work.”
“Here’s the problem. Tuition at Hampshire College is about $60,000 a year. That’s not a problem because it’s expensive. It’s a problem because 85% of Hampshire students qualify for some form of federal financial aid,” he continued. “That means that we the People are enabling schools like Hampshire to sell a liberal arts degree for approximately $250,000. With $1.3 trillion of student debt currently on the books, I found myself thinking how nice it would be to hear a more persuasive argument from those who will happily take money from a country whose flag they despise, ” Rowe added.
On Friday morning at Hampshire College, the university President ordered the raising of the flag again three weeks following its removal from campus.
“I hope this is not the end of the dialogue about these issues. The underlying issues are very important for the country,” President Lash said.
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