Television personality Mike Rowe is slamming Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), calling him a “knucklehead” for his remarks on college affordability.
The host of CNN’s “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” blasted a tweet from Sanders that suggested the government should pay for college to lessen the costs of incarceration.
{mosads}”I wonder sometimes, if the best way to question the increasingly dangerous idea that a college education is the best path for the most people, is to stop fighting the sentiment directly, and simply shine a light on the knuckleheads who continue to perpetuate this nonsense,” Rowe wrote in a lengthy Facebook note.
“In less than 140 characters, he’s managed to imply that a path to prison is the most likely alternative to a path to college. Pardon my acronym, but…WTF!?” Rowe added.
The “Dirty Jobs” host, pictured in the post wearing a cap and gown depicting a graduate while sitting in a wheelbarrow with parts of his legs exposed, said he is “not sure what to make” of Sanders’s juxtaposition.
“The truth, in my opinion, is this: There is no alternative for an education, and no hope for a person who doesn’t want to learn something useful and apply it. But there are many, many alternatives to college. And none of them come with a prison sentence,” Rowe wrote.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who has sought to bring attention to how nations like Sweden and Norway have handled college tuition, has pushed for free tuition at public colleges and universities.