Overrated

If I were at a swinging party in the suburbs, I don't know which statement I would be more afraid to blurt out: "I am a Christian," or, "I don't believe in college."

A college education is considered de rigueur for everyone. One day we may all awaken from this mass hysteria and realize what lemmings we have been, tripping over ourselves to pay $80,000 to have our kids pass tests about Poetics, spend every waking minute with other kids bent on getting drunk, and imbibe the Weltanschauung of professors who think Christianity is for idiots.

You can dismiss my own college experience as merely anecdotal, if you will, but it's like cockroaches: where you see one like me, there are a thousand others hiding. I wish I could have 1969 - 1973 back again, to learn a skill (by which I could reimburse my parents).

College is a business. They get their money whether your kid gets a good education or not. And as a matter of fact, "among college freshmen who graduated in the bottom 40% of their high school class, 76 of 100 won't earn a diploma, even if given 8 ½ years" (Marty Nemko, "America's Most Overrated Product: Higher Education").

The hardest pro-college argument to argue against is that many employers require that piece of paper from an institution with a fancy name. (like a very expensive hall pass) All I can say to that is that it stinks and we ought to fix it.

"Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts --- and with no more brains than you have. But! They have one thing you haven't got! A diploma!" ("The Wizard of Oz")