I thought this was interesting (sometimes The Atlantic has something worthwhile), but the above had to be reduced to less than 300 words from the article .

education enriches individuals much more than it enriches nations.

My thesis, in a single sentence: Civilized societies revolve around education now, but there is a better—indeed, more civilized—way. If everyone had a college degree, the result would be not great jobs for all, but runaway credential inflation. Trying to spread success with education spreads education but not success. - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/whats-college-good-for/546590/

See some (somewhat dated) stats on American Education here .

Note that I do not recommend all other articles such as 'Suicide Would Have Been a Blessing' "For Palestinians, There's Only One Road Left"...

Ping.

Are they kidding? All those “Ethnic Studies” majors add so much to the national dialogue.

Most occupations are quite capable of training needed employees at a tenth of the current costs.

I think it was the shock of "Sputnik" as well as the G.I. bill providing for college that began the "higher" education trend, but the priority of useful studies were replaced or watered down by frivolous "cultural" subjects.

• In 1940, fewer than 5 percent of Americans had a college degree. Starting with the GI Bill in 1944, governments at all levels promoted college. From 1947 to 1980, enrollments jumped from 2.3 million to 12.1 million. In the 1940s, private colleges and universities accounted for about half. By the 1980s, state schools - offering heavily subsidized tuitions - represented nearly four-fifths. At last count, roughly 40 percent of Americans had some sort of college degree: about 30 percent a bachelor's degree from a four-year institution; the rest associate degrees from community colleges. http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/05/29/lets_drop_the_college-for-everyone_crusade_99690.html

• Since 1961, the time students spend reading, writing and otherwise studying has fallen from 24 hours a week to about 15. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/is-college-too-easy-as-study-time-falls-debate-rises/2012/05/21/gIQAp7uUgU_print.html

• After two years of college, 45 percent of college students hadn't significantly improved their critical thinking and writing skills; after four years, the proportion was still 36 percent. The study was based on a test taken by 2,400 students at 24 schools. "Academically Adrift," by sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa; http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/05/29/lets_drop_the_college-for-everyone_crusade_99690.html

• Over 50 percent of students at four-year schools and more than 75 percent at two-year colleges lacked the skills to perform complex literacy tasks (unable to interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, comprehend arguments of newspaper editorials, compare credit card offers with different interest rates and annual fees, or summarize results of a survey about parental involvement in school). American Institutes for Research Ben Feller, Associated Press | January 20, 2006

• States appropriated almost $6.2 billion for four-year colleges and universities between 2003 and 2008 to help pay for the education of students who did not return for their second year, while the federal government spent $1.5 billion and states spent $1.4 billion on grants for such students. "Finishing the First Lap: The Cost of First-Year Student Attrition in America's Four-Year Colleges and Universities." reported by AP, “Report: College dropouts cost taxpayers billions,” October 11, 2010

• More than 25% of low-income first-generation college students leave after their first year, and 89 percent fail to graduate within six years. Time Magazine, What We Can Learn from First-Generation College Students, April 11, 2012

• Almost 80% of seniors at 55 of our best colleges and universities earned a D or F grade on a high-school level American history test a 1999 survey showed. USDE 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey tests http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/2000-11/cohen.html

• The National Center for Education Statistics reports that only 31% of college graduates can read and understand a complex book. Walter E. Williams , professor of economics at George Mason University. http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=336612797889002

• Nearly half (47 percent) of college freshmen enrolled in 2005 had earned an average grade of A in high school, compared to 2-in-10 (20 percent) in 1970. The majority (79 percent) of freshmen in 1970 had an important personal objective of “developing a meaningful philosophy of life.” By 2005, the majority of freshmen (75 percent) said their primary objective was “being very well off financially.” Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, (Table 274). http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/miscellaneous/007871.html

• Enrollment has increased 70.6 percent since 1990, from 135,000 to 230,000, at the 102 Evangelical schools belonging to the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA; USA Today Dec. 14, 2005 .

• During the same period, enrollments at public colleges increased by 12.8 percent, and at private colleges the increase was 28 percent. USA Today Dec. 14. 2005 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22361

• 62% more students are going to college than did in the 1960s". Bill Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard.

• Nearly 40 percent (approx. 11.5 million) of the nation’s 18 to 24 year olds were enrolled in two- or four-year colleges as of October 2008. U.S. Census figures released by the Pew Research Center, Nov. 2009

• The District of Columbia leads the nation in the proportion of college grads. http://www.epodunk.com/top10/collegeDiploma/index.html

• Tuition's and fees have risen more than 440 percent in 30 years. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-subprime-college-educations/2012/06/08/gJQA4fGiOV_print.html

• Total federal aid intended to hold down the price of a college degree have soared by more than $100 billion in the space of a single decade -- from $64 billion in 2000 to $169 billion in 2010. Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe; April 29, 2012, http://www.jeffjacoby.com/11618/the-government-college-money-pit

• On a typical campus, per capita students spending for alcohol--$446 per student--far exceeds the per capita budget of the college library. (Eigen, 1991 in the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse).

• College students spend over $5.5 billion a year on alcoholic beverages (mostly beer)--more than they spend on all other drinks [soda, tea, milk, juice and coffee] and books combined. Sidney Ribeau, PresidentBowling Green State University http://www.collegevalues.org/diaries.cfm?id=476&a=1. See also www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/rpt1998/CAS1998rpt2.html [which is also a illustration of how to do a survey.]

• A (disputed) study showed that 50% of American college faculty identified themselves as Democrats and only 11% as Republicans (with 33% being Independent, and 5% identifying themselves with another party). 72% described themselves as "to the left of center," including 18% who were strongly left. Only 15% described themselves as right of center, including only 3% who were "strongly right." North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS) of students, faculty and administrators at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada 1999. The Berkeley Electronic Press http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/04/conservatives-underrepresented-in.html http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol3/iss1/art2 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/17963/liberal_bias_in_our_schools.html

  A survey of 6,000 academic psychologists resulted in 10% reporting they had falsified research data; 67 per cent selectively reported studies that “worked”; 35% said they had doubts about the integrity of their own research. Leslie John, George Loewentstein, and Drazen Prelec in Psychological Science, December 2011

Just think, if we didn't have all these illegals in our country taking up say Concrete Work, Landscaping etc.

Than young men who aren't necessarily suited for college would have access to good paying jobs.

Teaching them the value of hard work and an appreciation for the fruits of your labor when the government takes it from you.

“I’m cynical about students. The vast majority are philistines. I’m cynical about teachers. The vast majority are uninspiring. I’m cynical about “deciders”—the school officials who control what students study.”

The nub of the problem, with the “deciders” being the largest.

>>"All those “Ethnic Studies” majors add so much to the national dialogue."

Not to mention volume!

These days, college exists mostly as a "gatekeeper" credential. Its purpose is to indicate that the holder can read and write at some basic level (something a high school diploma used to do). With grade inflation, a college degree is no longer any indication of literacy (for example, the brain-dead Dem Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has a bachelors from Yale, and a law degree from University of Virginia)

Yet a lifetime of experience, plus a quarter century of reading and reflection, has convinced me that it is a big waste of time and money....

Well; it keeps the in-employment rate down.

“Might”?!? May.

Yup

Imagine if a large employer set up a program wherein they would pay for the education needed and helpful for their company, versus LGBT studies or such, with the employee consenting to pay for this bonus lower pay for the time.

Most college involves little more than a structured reading list. Law, medicine and engineering are exceptions IMHO.

Just think, if we didn't have all these illegals in our country taking up say Concrete Work, Landscaping etc. Than young men who aren't necessarily suited for college would have access to good paying jobs. Teaching them the value of hard work and an appreciation for the fruits of your labor when the government takes it from you.

The reality is that the typical American youth do not want to do physical labor jobs: most want to be chiefs, and as in the past, immigrants do them. However, that does not justify being illegal, while the problem is more with liberal educated elites who create the policies.

Top 10 most popular college majors

1.Business Administration & Management

2. General Psychology

Why Don't Young Americans Want to Do Construction Work? | Builder ...The majority of young adults (74%) say they know the field in which they want to have a career. Of these, only 3% are interested in the construction trades.

The 63% of undecided young adults who indicated there was no or little chance they would consider a career in the trades no matter the pay were prodded about the reasons for their resoluteness. The two most common reasons are wanting a less physically-demanding job (48%) and the belief that construction work is difficult (32%). They were then asked if there was any compensation level that might entice them to reconsider a career in the trades. For slightly more than 20%, that number is either $75,000 or $100,000, but for the plurality (43%), there is no amount of money that could make them give the trades a second thought.

A college degree means nothing if everyone is allowed to go to college.

These days, college exists mostly as a "gatekeeper" credential. Its purpose is to indicate that the holder can read and write at some basic level (something a high school diploma used to do). With grade inflation, a college degree is no longer any indication of literacy (for example, the brain-dead Dem Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has a bachelors from Yale, and a law degree from University of Virginia)

The men would be better off in a non-PC military, and the women being married to real men and bearing children.

Once again... I work at t univ and am daily almost hourly, shocked at HOW absolutely incapable students are to do the simplest things or think for themselves.

They have had their hands held right up to the point of entering college and the bar is by now, so low that they get admitted. Just the same they are challenged beyond their capabilities right from the start.

Whether it’s housing, scheduling, academics, enrolling, personal or otherwise... or just finding their way around... they are idiots

What is more, they don’t know HOW to address problems or what basic resources are available so that they can resolve things for themselves. The floor leading to my desk has carpet beaten down from kids who think that they only need to show up and get things ‘fixed’ for them, without any effort on their own part.

We won’t even talk about the daily lost and found crap that goes on... phones, books, purses, calculators, keys, watches.... once we got a violin and it took a week for the owner to come in and get it.

Yeah. The article put it pretty well about half-way down:

Because, despite the chasm between what students learn and what workers do, academic success is a strong signal of worker productivity. Suppose your law firm wants a summer associate. A law student with a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford applies. What do you infer? The applicant is probably brilliant, diligent, and willing to tolerate serious boredom. If you’re looking for that kind of worker—and what employer isn’t?—you’ll make an offer, knowing full well that nothing the philosopher learned at Stanford will be relevant to this job. The labor market doesn’t pay you for the useless subjects you master; it pays you for the preexisting traits you signal by mastering them.