Education

I've been noticing a lot of chatter recently about the real value of a college education. The latest example of this is David Leonhardt's op-ed in support of a college education, even for jobs that may not necessarily require it:

Since I'm leaving work to pursue a full-time PhD program this Fall, this is a debate which I think about often. Judging from the comments to the NY Times article, the majority of posters did not seem convinced by Leonhardt's argument.

In my opinion, the debate boils down to two issues:

1) ~50% of undergraduates do not belong in college at age 18. They are too immature/unprepared/entitled to really get anything out of higher education.

2) The costs of attending college. A liberal education was never intended to be a jobs program, but the rising costs of college have made people justify their degree solely in terms of return on investment. At a micro level, this is a rational individual response. However, at a macro level, I think it bodes ill for our society.