I am, under the assumptions of the argument behind the argument, that learning a trade or entering the world of work immediately after high school is preferable to going to college. An integral part of the college experience is about broadening your intellectual horizons as much as its about learning usable skills, which is part of what separates college from even, say, technical school.

I come from a country where higher education is mostly free ( except some private schools business MBAs) so it's going to be hard for you to sell me on that ...

Heck I was paid by my school while getting my engineering degree..

The education of it's people is the one area where a government should intervene and pour money, because that's where the future of the country is decided...

I did.

Its all in application. Do you really want to better yourself? Sacrifices have to be made. I used downtime at my job to learn skills to get a new job. Eventually, I was able to quit that job and do something else for a lot more money.

My daughter will have a college-level education before she turns 18, because my wife and I will be able to give her the tools needed to ensure she finds what she wants to do with her life, and can focus on it with her free time. Its all about priorities. College helps focus priorities if you have nothing else going on. Discipline also can help you focus on priorities if you're dedicated enough, even when free time is lacking.

That is fair. I spent most of my free time in high school on video games (though some volunteering at the library and competitive public speaking extracurricular), so i went into college less well-prepared than that.

We agree that college can be a useful tool for helping individuals prioritize, which is good. Ultimately i'm just trying to keep this thread from not being free-for-all college-bashing.

awww so cute :p

While the importance of undergrad is overstated, that doesn't mean students should stop enrolling...
And I don't think trade schools are necessarily the best alternative either...
I've learned more valuable skills in the one month I've been in graduate school then I learned in four years of undergrad...

I don't disagree with that.

College is very valuable. However, within my lifetime, its been pushed as a cure-all, when it isn't. You have a lot of people going to college that shouldn't, and some that should be going to college, but can't afford it thanks to the aforementioned group.

Given the over-abundance of college students, there is bound to be some backlash against it, but hopefully not too much.

What is needed is high schoolers get sufficient education to enter into the job market at a competent entry-level position on the higher end.  The college system is now broken.  It produces twice as many graduates as there are positions for, all saddled with debt that doesn't match what the pay is.  I would say to add two more years of technical training on top of high school, to get people ready for the work force.

An additional idea here is that it would be wise for people to have a broader knowledge base. In JoeTheBro's hypothetical post, what's Construction Kid going to do after the next housing bubble?

The economy's a fast-moving beast, and an interdisciplinary education is a good thing to have.

I'm pretty positive your country didn't make education "affordable" by enabling people to take out loans for education regardless of how expensive it gets.

If the government didn't become involved the typical school would see enrollment drop if they increased tuition too quickly or to too high of a level and tuition would increase at (roughly) the rate of inflation. Schools would have less money and the president and administrations' salaries would increase (roughly) at the rate of inflation, new buildings would be built as-needed rather than the excessive building that is happening on many campuses, and schools would have to demonstrate return on investment in order for students to qualify for loans.

When the government steps in to make loans more "affordable" they only make whatever the loan is buying more expensive.