> For those motivated, getting broad education makes them much more productive.
That seems unlikely. It's unclear how the sorts of "broad education" that you mean could make them more productive pouring coffee, or running the cash register at the grocery store. Because that's where a great many of them end up.
Of course, working their barely-more-than-minimum wage jobs, with $40k, $80k, and sometimes far greater sums of student debt... it would have to be some incredible amount of productivity gains. Even then though, it doesn't seem that they themselves get any slice of those gains.
> Vocational schools are a better fit for many people and we should encourage them.
I don't think we can encourage those. I think we've spent decades undermining them, short-shrifting them, and in general, downplaying them. If people did start to want to attend them, it's unlikely that they have the capacity to expand. It's not entirely clear that these work either... much of the industry in the United States has evaporated entirely and there is only so much capacity to absorb additional plumbers and diesel mechanics.
This is a different sort of problem than I hinted at in the first comment. There is a problem of there being no viable paths to success for the majority of high school graduates, whether or not they go to college.
Already set up for failure (to one degree or another), tacking on any sort of educational debt is just chaining the boat anchors to their neck.
The natural reaction is to think about it on an individual level... "well, why can't that kid go get a STEM degree, or become an offshore welder, or become an artist and make a living selling sculptures from their bohemian loft apartment?". And for any single youth, for any 100 of them, these answers can make sense. But for all of them in total, these answers fall far short of what is needed. We can't employ 1% or even 12% of them, and call it a day. We need jobs and careers for 98 or 99% of them. It's fucked.
That seems unlikely. It's unclear how the sorts of "broad education" that you mean could make them more productive pouring coffee, or running the cash register at the grocery store. Because that's where a great many of them end up.
Of course, working their barely-more-than-minimum wage jobs, with $40k, $80k, and sometimes far greater sums of student debt... it would have to be some incredible amount of productivity gains. Even then though, it doesn't seem that they themselves get any slice of those gains.
> Vocational schools are a better fit for many people and we should encourage them.
I don't think we can encourage those. I think we've spent decades undermining them, short-shrifting them, and in general, downplaying them. If people did start to want to attend them, it's unlikely that they have the capacity to expand. It's not entirely clear that these work either... much of the industry in the United States has evaporated entirely and there is only so much capacity to absorb additional plumbers and diesel mechanics.
This is a different sort of problem than I hinted at in the first comment. There is a problem of there being no viable paths to success for the majority of high school graduates, whether or not they go to college.
Already set up for failure (to one degree or another), tacking on any sort of educational debt is just chaining the boat anchors to their neck.
The natural reaction is to think about it on an individual level... "well, why can't that kid go get a STEM degree, or become an offshore welder, or become an artist and make a living selling sculptures from their bohemian loft apartment?". And for any single youth, for any 100 of them, these answers can make sense. But for all of them in total, these answers fall far short of what is needed. We can't employ 1% or even 12% of them, and call it a day. We need jobs and careers for 98 or 99% of them. It's fucked.