I'm 71. When I was in my 20s, my mother kept bemoaning the fact that I didn't have "that piece of paper".
Now I'm debt-free, retired, and own my own home; I worked for myself most of my life, and I'm pretty happy. Never went to college, but dammit I can spell and punctuate better than almost any college graduate today.
Not so sure that it was always Kool -Aid. It is hard (for me, at least) to imagine what the impact of the G.I. Bill has been on U.S. history. Suddenly servicemen and women, for the low, low price of risking their lives, could go to college. One need no longer be among the landed gentry to read great books and learn great things.
It is unsurprising and indeed it is a very good thing that this caught on.
But then came The Age of Indolence, which began several decades ago, and in which we are now stuck, seemingly stuck but good and for a long, long time.
The whole nation nearly swooned last week to witness people working! That could catch on.
Spot-on, actually; the post WWII GI Bill era was arguably the sweet spot. College admission standards hadn't crumbled yet, skilled trades still respected -- the evil came later.
I'm not sure that society demeaned useful work so much as drank the Everybody Needs College Kool-Ade.
The Everybody Needs College Kool-Ade, because it was racist for companies to hire on merit or intelligence.
Another case of a govt regulatory body paying activists to sue it until it got what it wanted.
I'm 71. When I was in my 20s, my mother kept bemoaning the fact that I didn't have "that piece of paper".
Now I'm debt-free, retired, and own my own home; I worked for myself most of my life, and I'm pretty happy. Never went to college, but dammit I can spell and punctuate better than almost any college graduate today.
A high school grad from the mid 20th century knows more, understands more and is more flexible than any college grad today.
Not so sure that it was always Kool -Aid. It is hard (for me, at least) to imagine what the impact of the G.I. Bill has been on U.S. history. Suddenly servicemen and women, for the low, low price of risking their lives, could go to college. One need no longer be among the landed gentry to read great books and learn great things.
It is unsurprising and indeed it is a very good thing that this caught on.
But then came The Age of Indolence, which began several decades ago, and in which we are now stuck, seemingly stuck but good and for a long, long time.
The whole nation nearly swooned last week to witness people working! That could catch on.
Spot-on, actually; the post WWII GI Bill era was arguably the sweet spot. College admission standards hadn't crumbled yet, skilled trades still respected -- the evil came later.