“Even With Debt, College Still Pays Off”(The Atlantic) NOT FOR SOCIETY

Even With Debt, College Still Pays Off – The Atlantic.

I believe that the story is much more subtle.  Here is what I wrote.

“There is a more nuanced view of the fact that “college grads out earn high school grads” than just “college is worth it”.

Here is the short version. It is based on my 25 years of observation as a professor.

Colleges don’t teach much – especially at state regional schools. (The reasons for this are many, but they are described on my blog, inside-higher-ed .)

Many high school teachers attend colleges where they aren’t given much of a chance to learn their subject. Thus, their future high school students aren’t given much of a chance to learn.

All of this takes a lot of observation and some thought to see, but it is there for anyone who looks.

The final result of all of this? Colleges collect a “tax”, not on individuals as much as on society; and, the divide between high school and college graduates widens. At the same time college grads, in general, do worse than they used to do, just not as much worse as high school grads do. So colleges only point to the differential. Don’t buy it.”