[lbo-talk] MH & DG on university

[Somebody Somebody]

I favor free college education, but it seems to me to be a mistake to say that it couldn't hurt. All reforms have costs. In this case, we can quickly identify a couple - firstly, universal college means credential inflation well beyond that which has already occurred in the U.S. Secondly, and more importantly, I would interrogate whether its really emancipatory to pressure the majority of workers to spend four, five, six or more years of their young adulthood in an academic setting. What's striking when you look at the great inventors and scientists of the past is how young they were when they completed their education. There's a balance between providing more (ideally free) education to the masses and having an excessive demand for education, due to credentialism and social expectations, which can lead to young and not-so-young people spending their best years studying when they could be discovering or inventing - or alternatively, experimenting with

 lifestyles, traveling, or engaging in artistic pursuits.

Moreover, is it the case that say, a Switzerland or Germany has been handicapped versus an Ireland or Portugal in having low college graduation rates (lower than the U.S.)? I would assume on balance they have been, but then I favor broad, free university undergraduate and graduate education, but again, there are downsides.