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Feb. 15th, 2016 01:54 pmPosted this in response to a comment on reddit, and it's received a pretty decent number of upvotes as far as reddit upvoting goes, so I figured I'd post it here as well.
College isn't expensive because it's exclusive knowledge you can't learn elsewhere - it's expensive because everyone thinks they are going to benefit directly from a college degree, and everyone thinks they will personally profit from the acquisition of one. In reality, only a small portion of jobs actually require higher learning, and most people are simply going into debt for little to no reason. Jobs might ask for a degree for positions that don't necessitate it, but if you were the right person, or knew the right person, that requirement would be waived. It's a filter and nothing more, and one method of controlling levels of unemployment and funneling high numbers of applicants.
In the history of university it was something reserved for the elite class, and like you said, only in recent history has this changed to encompass a larger demographic - and not necessarily to their benefit. The person most capable of benefiting from a degree is the person who has an extensive family network and financial resources at their disposal - not someone who will be under crushing debt upon graduation, having zero leverage to aim for the highest potential return, and pressured to start earning even if the work is below their educational level.
College isn't expensive because it's exclusive knowledge you can't learn elsewhere - it's expensive because everyone thinks they are going to benefit directly from a college degree, and everyone thinks they will personally profit from the acquisition of one. In reality, only a small portion of jobs actually require higher learning, and most people are simply going into debt for little to no reason. Jobs might ask for a degree for positions that don't necessitate it, but if you were the right person, or knew the right person, that requirement would be waived. It's a filter and nothing more, and one method of controlling levels of unemployment and funneling high numbers of applicants.
In the history of university it was something reserved for the elite class, and like you said, only in recent history has this changed to encompass a larger demographic - and not necessarily to their benefit. The person most capable of benefiting from a degree is the person who has an extensive family network and financial resources at their disposal - not someone who will be under crushing debt upon graduation, having zero leverage to aim for the highest potential return, and pressured to start earning even if the work is below their educational level.
