The higher ed bubble is bursting, so what comes next?
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/12/sunday-reflection-higher-ed-bubble-bursting-so-what-comes-next/1969376
I like this quote best:
…homeownership and college aren’t causes of middle-class status, they’re markers for possessing the kinds of traits — self-discipline, the ability to defer gratification, etc. — that let you enter, and stay in, the middle class.
People need to earn an education and it needs to be challenging to do so. Schools, however, get paid based on the number of people that attend, so schools have no incentive to make it challenging to attend and in most cases, simply attending for the requisite period will get you the degree. As much as I complain about our f-ed up educational system relying so much on memorization, at least it relies on something that, while a crappy proxy for learning, is at least better than giving degrees away.
Presuming we survive this period as a society, I am sure we will look back on these silly excesses of our government with wonderment and slack-jawed amazement. How could they be so stupid? Yet today we are those stupid people and from my current vantage point I don’t see any prospects for any kind of change in the next decade.
