The less government involvement in anything, the better the -thing will be.
If we’re speaking of spherical college degrees in a vacuum (to make a “Big Bang Theory” joke, for those who have a Sheldon in the family), there’s no reason anyone should care what anyone else studies. Each student (or his parents) should attempt to evaluate the cost vs. the financial+non-financial benefit of the education he buys.
Some degrees have a better chance of producing financial rewards, either because Chemical Engineering jobs pay more than Early Childhood Development jobs, or because more people get jobs as accountants than as opera singers. Nonetheless, if a person wants to accept a high risk of failure, or accept a lower-paying field, who else should care?
A legitimate public concern arises when everyone is paying, through government subsidies to schools, grants/loans to students, and so on. A theoretical concern, at least. A twit with a degree in Victim Studies is more of a problem when she gets a civil service job than when she’s just blowing money on the degree.
To me, the more important issue is the percentage of students who attend college for years but never graduate. My oldest son is starting community college next week, and our agreement is that, as long as he’s doing well in the sensible state-approved tuition-free courses he’s taking, he can continue to envision his brilliant future as a starving, lice-ridden alternative rock guitarist. If he actually attempts to embark on that career, he’s financially on his own!
I absolutely love the second sentence in the last paragraph. Beautifully stated.
To copy something I heard long time ago: you perhaps have mistaken me for someone who gives a damn. I really don’t care what goes on in colleges (well, I don’t like the teaching of America as a worthless place by some professors) or how students do or don’t benefit. I have no children and thus no dog in that fight.
I just am bemused by the constant blather of some Freepers who are convinced that they—and only they—know what people should study: ENGINEERING.
At this point in my life (old age) I just hope that this country holds together. It would be a shame for 237 years of war, strife, democracy, constitutional government and other ideals that men and women have stood for to go under.