If you have children who might go to college some day, or you might go to college some day, or you are even vaguely interested in higher education in American, read this book!
Bennett was Secretary of Education from 1985-1988, so obviously has thought about and studied the topic of education from birth through...life.
This book is impressive, thoughtful, and challenging. I agreed with most of what he said.
Ok, the basic premise is obvious from the title. Is college worth it? When my parents and grandparents went to college, it was possible to work (hard) during the summers to pay for most of college. It wasn't easy, but it was possible. Not nearly as high a percentage of the population went to college, too.
Fast forward to now. These days, college is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for anyone I know of (except maybe Alaskan crab fisherman) to pay for through summer and part time jobs. College is incredibly expensive. Even cheap schools cost a lot.
In spite of the expense of college, in spite of staggering debt loads, the generic wisdom of the age is that "everyone should go to college". Our president is quoted as saying he wants everyone to commit to some post secondary education. "College for all" is a rallying cry for our generation.
Bennett questions that, and rightly so. My view is that college is NOT wise or sensible for many people. Yes, college is a good fit for some people. For others, trade school or an apprenticeship is a better option. Some young women may choose to focus on homemaking skills instead of spending money on college.
So that's the basic premise, but the book has SO much more. He discusses, in detail, the "Bennett hypothesis", which Bennett generated 25 years ago. The hypothesis is that as loan dollars become more readily available for students, the cost of college will increase correspondingly. So instead of college really becoming more "affordable" because of readily available loans, families will be just as stretched today PLUS students (or parents) will carry tons of loan debt into the future.
Bennett has proven quite prescient. Tuition costs have skyrocketed in the last couple of decades, way faster than is warranted by inflationary forces. Bennett (and Wilezol, I keep forgetting to mention him but he is the coauthor) detail why college expenses are skyrocketing. Much of it is due to inefficiency and poor allocation of resources. I still feel annoyed by the money that the University of Michigan spends on their flowers and landscaping. HONESTLY. I went to Michigan Tech. for undergrad and liked that the campus was relatively no frills and tuition costs were far lower than U of M. PLUS, as Bennett points out, many professors focus on research first and teaching is a poor 6th behind many other things. I certainly observed that at UM. It was all about research for many profs.
We've decided to be countercultural in many ways, what with a large family and choosing to home school. And oh, those 8 kids? Born in less than 13 years. If they all go to college, that's a LOT of college education in a short period of time. There is no way we can pay $20,000 per year in tuition for each child. Much less the $50,000 a year charged by schools like Harvard. I so so so so so SO don't want them graduating with a staggering load of student loan debt, too. One of the sad parts of Bennett and Wilezol's book is the case studies of students with tons of debt. It is, if not destroying their lives, at least severely restricting what they can do.
Kevin and I both have PhD's so we've done the college thing. College is good, for some. It doesn't make one person better than another person. If someone wants to expand her mind, she can read a bunch of books, take online courses, etc. No one needs college to become a well rounded, valuable member of society. One other valid point from this book is that many college courses have been dumbed down AND increasingly liberal. I think some courses are probably more liable to ruin a young person's wisdom and discernment than to increase those valuable attributes
So we'll see about college with our kids. My vague feeling is that many, maybe most, of our children will attend college. But if they do, it'll likely be local. They may well take advantage of online courses and maybe MOOC's (Massive Open Online Courses.)
The landscape of college is changing. This book, published in 2013, lays out starkly the issues of the day and provides wisdom in determining what is best for young person.
I highly, highly recommend the book.
