I think this article makes profound sense.
I am no fan of public schools (I homeschool and always have, all my kids) but I don’t like it when they are blamed for inadequacy based on the fact that ALL the students aren’t graduates headed for college.
If we all get Bachelor’s degrees, who is going to pave the roads? Roof the houses? Plant the trees?
We need a balance in our society. We can only handle a small number of pointy headed intellectuals.
Many - perhaps even most - of the important jobs in our nations should not require a college degree.
We should all be literate, have a working knowledge of basic math, and know basic civics. The rest is specialization, which should be available to those so inclined.
In my utopia, there are no public schools. The government, because it has a legitimate interest in defense, provides a “free” literacy course, a “free” basic math course, and a “free” course in basic citizenship, for all ages, at the local library, offered at various times to suit kids and/or adults.
All other education is the parents’ or individuals’ responsibility.
Oh well, a girl can dream.
People with bachelor's degrees...but they'll be griping about it and do a lousy job (hmmm, sounds just like today's customer service environment...)
American schools have never been able to teach everyone how to read, write, and do arithmetic. The myth that they could has arisen because schools a hundred years ago did not have to educate the least able. When the twentieth century began, about a quarter of all adults had not reached fifth grade and half had not reached eighth grade.
An important point that is routinely overlooked - leaving some children behind was once recognized as an important corollary to helping the others who could get ahead.
It’s a good dream. I homeschool also.
Some of the most successful men I know are self employed tradesmen (plumbers, mechanics, electricians). They are always available for community projects and volunteer work because they aren’t tied to a 9-5 paycheck AND they actually have usefull skills and their own tools.
Pointy head liberals have pretty much wrecked this nation since FDR’s time. It’s the guys with calluses and stained fingernails that fix things that we need more of.
Because we do not train our young to build and to repair we have a generation of burger flippers and gangbangers with no future and no ideas and no desire to serve the community they live in.