A bachelor's degree isn't a prerequisite to a satisfying career—it's a costly way of signaling the fortitude to withstand suffering.
ZACH WEISSMUELLER | 10.23.2019 12:25 PM
Michael Gamez, 22, has wanted to work on cars since he was a kid, just like his father and grandfather. He fixed up and sold his first used car when he was 14. "It felt really good to build something up and sell it for a profit," says Gamez.
But his teachers conditioned him to equate a college degree with success. So he enrolled at the University of California, Irvine, with a plan to major in mechanical engineering. During his sophomore year, Gamez dropped out because he realized that he was on the wrong path.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.)and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) have promised that, if elected, they'll make public college tuition-free and wipe clear federal student loan debt, which in the U.S. tops $1.5 trillion. Their claim is that making college universal will lead to higher productivity and more economic opportunity for people like Gamez.
"If you make college free, then there's going to be so many [degrees] floating around that if you want to get a better job, then you're going to need to go and get some supplemental degree," says Bryan Caplan, an economist at George Mason University and author of The Case Against Education. He's skeptical that professors like him have much to offer most students.
https://reason.com/video/why-free-college-is-a-terrible-idea/?fbclid=IwAR175UCFgrZhaCv1c8jWD2f_6tSX-3PAQeuhnfZaTFxAoEYUXj8wDPP5_ik
