HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: John Hinderaker: Down with College!

For the last 50 years or so, public policy in the U.S. has trended toward the view that everyone, more or less, should go to college. This was a sharp departure from the historical norm, when higher education really was higher, and only a small minority obtained four-year degrees.

It has become increasingly evident that the payoff for sending most kids to college is minimal, both for them and for our society and economy. Hence the current trend away from four-year colleges and toward, among other things, apprenticeships. The Wall Street Journal has a long article headlined “More Students Are Turning Away From College and Toward Apprenticeships,” with the subhead “Some white-collar training programs have become as selective as Ivy League universities.” That can only be a good thing. . . .

here is a parallel trend away from requiring college degrees for employment. . . .

The Journal doesn’t discuss this factor, but it seems obvious that one reason for the anti-college trend is the wokism that has infected virtually all colleges and universities. Higher education is now, in most cases, a hostile environment for young men, and it is rapidly becoming a hostile environment for normal people, generally. So why should most kids–the ones who aren’t going to be doctors, engineers, and a handful of other occupations–shell out a lot of money for a poor education?

I was one of the last defenders of traditional liberal education, but I finally threw in the towel because actual liberal education is just about extinct.

Indeed.