Cradles and Safety Nets

Gary North reports:

In the United States, higher education is a $400 billion a year industry, and most of this is tax-funded.

Parents are told to pay for part of these costs of higher education. It takes five or six years to graduate, and close to half who enter as freshmen do not graduate. The average student has $20,000 in debt when he graduates. Those who don't graduate have a little less debt.

The boughs have now visibly broken in the social sciences and humanities. The entry-level job market is rotten for college graduates. They have lost five or six years, and they are only marginally more qualified for entry-level jobs than a high school graduate who is 18.

The nearly two-decade system of cradles, boughs, and trees is failing to deliver the goods: qualified candidates for high-output, high-income entry-level jobs. The system rolls on, because politicians know that the content of education remains under state control. The cradles produce voters who have faith in the existing political order.

An article well worth your time.