The Case Against College Entitlements : Why We Don't Need More Public Funding For Higher Education

Ever heard of Sallie Mae? It's going bankrupt just like Fannie, Freddie etc. Government is the problem, you have to get rid of Dept pf Education at least and let states and voters decide.

The clip argues that college standards have fallen and people are getting degrees they don't need and that don't help them. The video writers seem to think that keeping college expensive is the solution. An expensive college degree would likely reduce recipients, however it won't accomplish the goal as it favors the wrong people. Education would become a privilege of the children of the wealthy and they are the ones, not our best and brightest who would wind up attending our top schools.

I agree with Mr Murray's comments that too many people begin Uni who are unable to benefit from higher education: they just aren't intelligent enough. However, I disagree with his solution: to make students pay for this. I think that greater selection on ability with grants for the able is the solution.

Education is such a complicated thing.

Is higher education about "merit" or "access"? Knowing the history of education in the USA is important. People say: College admissions should be based on who "measures up." Maybe so, but a hundred years ago, "measuring up" meant one thing: being born into a wealthy, mainline-Protestant family. There was no SAT!

Nowadays there is an SAT, but what's really changed? You can predict a person's SAT score w/99% accuracy based simply on where he grew up.

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I agree that everybody shouldn't pursue a college disagree. Just not for the same reasons as charles murray ; I personally believe that colleges don't do a good job of realizing people true potential for learning mainly because universities hire professors not for their teaching ability , but they hire them based on how many papers they published in their field; Colleges assumed that people learn in the same manner; I think people should learn on their own and save the money;

I don't agree with Charles murray position on most people being too intellectually deficient to handle college material. Charles murray points out that 50 years ago , people understand this premise and so few people went to college. What he fails to mentioned is that 50 years ago , people did not need a high school diploma, let alone a college diploma to have a decent job; But now that we are transition from a manufuturing based economy into a information one, knowledge is in high demand. ...

"I don't agree with Charles murray position on most people being too intellectually deficient to handle college material."

I agree, for the economic reason you cite, but also because in my opinion the vast majority of what passes for "raw intelligence" is basically bullshit/smoke & mirrors: a class-ridden, European vision of edu.

We should recapture the attitude of the Founders: they were brilliant autodidacts & amateurs. Jefferson's vision of edu was one of lifelong learning & intell. growth.

Read all of Charles Murray's "Real Education" and Matthew Crawford's "Shop Class as Soul Craft" and Wicke Sloane's comments on the obsolescence of the BA/BS. The student loan debt crisis will be bigger and badder and make the mortgage crisis will pale in comparison.

@samashby08 go home right now. stop while you are ahead. stand up in your community & support your friends who are still not out of high school. get a job somewhere where they offer tuition reimbursement utilize on the job training

I am a Sophomore at a large 4-yr university in Tennessee. I have changed my major three times already. It is currently English, although I some day want to go into Public Service. The problem with most students these days is that we are EXPECTED to attend a higher education institution. I know in my hometown you were almost looked down upon if you didn't go to college. And like a lot of people have said already, an undergrad degree is worth NOTHING now. You almost have to get a post-grad degree.

"You almost have to get a post-grad degree."

It's 100% true. Having at least one grad degree=the minimum to be taken seriously in many professions. I was in yr shoes 10 yrs ago. I should have taken time off & was not ready for undergrad, but I did it to keep the 'rents happy.

It's idiotic that it's *expected* of people. & yet, unfortunately, it matters what people expect.

Much about higher ed is a scam & should be reformed. But until then, a college degree REALLY IS necessary for most people.