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"Life was a lot simpler then"

Oh, I don't know. Every age has its problems, and every age tends to think its own are the worst.

"If you lived past 40 you were considered old."

Unless I'm mistaken, menopause still occurs at around the same age.

"Most people did not have to go to school to earn a living...All you needed to know to function was the facts of life how to use your hands at some trade, most likely digging diches, harvesting, fishing, etc."

A couple of things I've been thinking about:

1. I recently read that a college education today is approximately equivalent to a high-school education 50 years ago.

2. Any college degree fits one for entry level in all but specialized fields. Lots of people have degrees they never use.

When I look at those two things, I have to ask: wouldn't we be better off to restore the quality of a high-school education and have people finishing their formal education at 15 and 16, rather than using resources to support them in another decade of indolence? (Not that all college students are indolent. Just the great majority.)

I mean, your average liberal arts graduate today is no better educated than Orwell's animals, chanting "Four legs good; two legs bad." What's the bloody point?

Retain universities for real scholarship, and for science and engineering. Enough spending on "psychological" bilgewater like studies that tell us--gasp--that men like looking at women. Universities have entire departments that should not only be abolished, everyone connected with them should be flogged.

Let young people get on with their lives. And if a 16 year old guy wants to marry a 14 year old girl, well, fine. Just know--there will be no divorce.

When I look at those two things, I have to ask: wouldn't we be better off to restore the quality of a high-school education and have people finishing their formal education at 15 and 16, rather than using resources to support them in another decade of indolence?

HECK YES! If we did the job teaching kids what they need to know, and only what they need to know, they could be out of schooll by 15-16 easily. At least half of a kid's day is wasted on useless stuff. Most have little or no homework.

There would probably be a useful role for apprenticeships in things like computer science, architecture, chemistry and the like for those interested in them.

Universities (especially the brick and mortar ones)? I'm trying to figure out why, other than societal intertia, they still exsit.