Do too many kids go to college?

[No Elephants]

PBS hosted a panel discussion/debate on this topic. I watched it this morning, after having watched Arne Duncan on Colbert saying that he (Duncan) recommended "some form of higher education" for most kids. (Of course, that could refer to anything from taking single trade course to getting a degree from a four year college or graduate school.)



One of the selling points for a college degree used to be the income differential. However, college degrees are very costly now. Is the present value of the alleged earning differential that much greater than the present value of spending a quarter of a million bucks at an Ivy League over the next four years? What if you invested the money you would earn over four years and let it grow for the rest of your earning career? How much would it be when you reach retirement? Has anyone even bothered to do that calculation?

More importantly (for me), who, besides people who own or run colleges, private college prep courses, etc., is pushing the view that everyone needs some schooling after high school and who is pushing the opposite view?

And what if we were to look at the earnings of people who go to a mid level college, instead of also factoring in those who go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc, who, in many cases, would have been multi-millionaires, through inheritance and contacts, if they never finished pre-school? For example, John Forbes Kerry would probably have done all right through family and other contacts if he had quit his private prep school at 16.

Our thinking on this subject probably does need updated info and analysis, but, like everything else today, those who are driving us to "think" about it really want to brainwash us to one view or another because they expect that our taking one side or the other would make them richer.

[Enthusiast]

1. I do not know.

I did have the privilege of seeing Arne Duncan on Colbert.:puke:

[No Elephants]

2. Lucky you. (Isn't he creepy? Not sure why.)