In the aftermath of World War I, a bitter Rudyard Kipling penned a poem entitled “The Gods of the Copybook Headings.”Copybooks were the old-school way of teaching penmanship: students would copy some proverb or saying written at the top of the page over and over again until the book was filled.And even though we’re entering the holiday season, celebrating Christmahannakwanzaeid, getting ready to give (and receive) gifts and the end of exams, it wouldn’t hurt to remember a bit of advice from days past. ‘Tis the season to be jolly and giving, but don’t let your wishes run rampant — that’s exactly what sank us into this mess in the first place.One passage is particularly fitting to today’s crisis:In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,/ By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;/ But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,/ And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work, you die.”While I don’t mind getting paid, simple wisdom like “if you don’t work, you die” seems obvious. But the movers and shakers on Wall Street seemed to think otherwise as they made riskier bets and continued to pour money into this financial fantasy lands.Yet if you think all the financial mumbo-jumbo of de-leveraging, liquidity preference or non-farm payrolls won’t affect you, think again.The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released its biennial report Dec. 3, and the results are frightening.Despite all the talk about universal health care, we face a bigger problem — adjusted for inflation, college tuition and fees have shot up 439 percent since 1984. Compare this to medical bills, again adjusted for inflation, have gone up by 251 percent.And it’s difficult to pay for all of these inflating bills when median family income has risen only 147 percent. Even for upper-middle income families, it’s difficult to pay for college — these people are paying 16 percent of their income on putting someone through a four-year university.The clincher is the map with grades for each state in terms of affordability: it’s almost solid with failing grades (the only state to pass is California with a “C” grade). This accounts for ability to pay, college costs, need-based financial aid and student debt levels.Translation: if this were a class, then the grade distribution would show two percent Cs and 98 percent Fs. I don’t know about you, but I’m avoiding that class.And the cherry bomb on top of this mess is the fact that the financial meltdown and the credit crunch translate into potential problems securing student loans.The third-to-last stanza of the poem says:Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew/And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true/That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four/And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.Take some time during the break to actually learn something other than what’s on your engineering final, your history paper or your chemistry lab practical. Sit down and learn from the Gods of the Copybook Headings.With the economy in shambles and our politicians in lame-duck limbo, you’d be wise to heed a few bits of wisdom from old copybooks.Send in your thoughts on the wisdom of old copybook headings to [email protected].