Agree with deadzone, while also acknowledging the need for the general public to understand finance and have some familiarity with social sciences, etc.

But every year of education costs a lot of money, so we have to do a cost analysis to determine if extending the years of academic education is worth it, either individually, or to society.

Also, many people are not cut out for college. They just aren’t academic types, with many of them either dropping out of high school, or just barely scraping by through school. Does that mean that they are worthless to society? Hell no! And that’s where we fall short — we send the message that their contributions don’t mean anything, and that their work isn’t valuable. The truth is that their work is often the most valuable because they’re the ones who physically build and maintain all of the things that the “smart” folks are buying and selling. They create the infrastructure that facilitates trade.

Blue collar work is every bit as important as white collar work, if not more so. We need to change the message and get the right types of education to the right people, whether it’s vocational training or university (or something altogether different). And we need to stop pretending that one type of education or skill set is superior to another. Society is best off when the skills and talents of every person are maximized.