Like many things in life, there's good and bad in colleges.
“I value liberal arts, just not enough to want to pay for them for my kid or someone else’s kid, when the liberals make student loans all magically go away and I end up footing the bill.”
From my perspective, liberal arts are integral to a college education. College really isn't worthwhile without liberal arts, without those core subjects that comprise the traditional “classics.”
There are a lot of problems globally with higher education. Many students make bad choices. Many schools allow students to make bad choices without ever encouraging them to think about the consequences. Taking out tens of thousands of dollars in loans to get a degree in a field with poor job prospects probably isn't the brightest thing to do. Lots of schools offer degree programs in fields that are entirely lacking in academic rigor. Many professors allow their liberal politics to seep into the classroom.
And the biggie:
Probably half or more of the kids in college don't belong there. That's the single biggest problem with higher education - the whole idea of “every student should go to college.” Not every student is capable of earning a high school diploma from a school with decent standards!
All that being said, a bright student with a decent secondary education, with parents who care, who get involved, and who add their wisdom to the mix of information available, can make out a path for college that is sensible, as you did.
sitetest
Personally, I believe that a sound education in the arts is **fundamental** to being educated regardless of one’s profession. ...But....Should one citizen be forced to pay for another citizen's personal enrichment? As a conservative I say, “No!”
Next,....We should ask are there less expensive and more efficient means of acquiring a more politically balanced liberal education? In today's world of free Internet content and Amazon.com, yes there is. What is lacking is a means for certifiable examinations and credentials to prove that one has mastered the material. For example, I have taken several courses through I-tunes sponsored by Parkland University and MIT and Internet-based painting and drawing courses. Excellent courses, but I know of no way to certify that I have mastered the material.
Finally, I believe that student debt is now at crisis levels. The consequences of this debt are serious for all of us, not just the student. And...The indoctrination found on campus is out of control.
We must find less expensive ways for the students to acquire more balanced information and to prove to others that he has mastered the material. This is true not only for those students who are interested in the arts but also those in the sciences as well. Much information in the sciences and the arts could be placed on-line and could even be free to the student if the creators of the content and administrators of the exams accepted advertising.
In a truly free market of college education, those students who want the traditional experience of brick and mortar studies would likely still be able to purchase this very expensive experience, but he should expect the government to use its threat of police force to make others pay for it.