Writing for Forbes.com, George Leef takes on the often repeated idea that we must send as many people to college as possible, particularly if we want to compete in the global marketplace.
Hordes of academically weak and disengaged kids have been lured into college with the idea that getting a degree–any degree, from anywhere–means they’ll enjoy a hefty gain in earnings. Unfortunately, many of them coast through without adding anything to their human capital. They may have a degree, but that and $3 will get them a coffee at Starbucks SBUX +1.38%, where they’re apt to work.
People are good at figuring out how to maximize their human capital, but government inducements to take certain kinds of approved education leads many to waste time and money. Instead of boosting the nation’s productivity, that depresses it, just as make-work jobs and needless government projects like the famous “bridge to nowhere” do.
The best education policy: Leave it to individual choice in a free market.
