vae ignoratis!

This article just came out in today’s issue of Time Magazine. I won’t bicker with absolutely everything the author has to say, although I probably could. Instead, I’d just like to point out that Ramesh Ponnuru seems to censure the value placed on education beyond the arguably flawed K-12 system, and the various ensuing payoffs, much more than the often astronomical prices of higher education in this country. (Make what you will of the fact that we hold very different opinions, despite having graduated from the same university with the same honors in similar fields.)

It may be true that 40% of those who matriculate do not graduate from college within six years, but there are many varied factors that contribute to this statistic: some spend their nights partying and their days hungover, which happens at institutions of all tiers; others may actually not be “cut out” for the experience of post-secondary education; but the majority probably just can’t handle more debt than they already have. And while the author acknowledges that the purpose of higher education is not to secure jobs for its students, though any decent institution prepares them to find such work as is available upon graduation, “traditional college” is still blamed here for producing not much more than debt.