In the wake of crushing student debt and limited employment opportunities, many are questioning  if the “higher education for everyone” approach is either rational or responsible.

One recent graduate who is reflecting on this “grabbing the brass ring” approach to college degrees is Steven Waechter, who completed his studies at Drake University:

To the baby boom generation, a college diploma was the Ring of the Nibelung; a mystical object which granted you the power to rule your world. It was something to be quested for; sacrifices along the way would be proven worthwhile in the end.Then, it all changed. The problem is, the same mindset about college is still being pressed upon the next generations. Everybody from elective politics, education, media, and parents across the country try to impress the necessity of college on the young.

If you pay any attention at all to the politics of our nation, you cannot escape the rhetoric. Every single elected official and candidate for office has to give the same perfunctory line about how our economy cannot be healed without greater emphasis on education at all levels.

If you are seeing this, your Custom URL is not pointing to the correct image!This is because we became accustomed to having a massive, heavily capitalized economy with large markets for specific services. When the baby boom generation came of age, they were told to attend college and learn how to take advantage of the tertiary economy (service and retail sector).

To the baby boom generation, it was always assumed that there would be enough capital to support a highly productive economy, which would always be able to generate the wealth necessary to support the service and government sectors.

Waechter notes that the baby boomers have subsequently created a model of economic growth based on education as the source of employment opportunities. As a result, politicians are adopting a “social engineer” view when addressing higher education items, rather that focusing on the fiscal realities of a changing global marketplace.

My ultimate complaint with the higher education obsession is geared towards our social engineers themselves. Having so thoroughly convinced themselves and others that the economy needs the aggressive action of government authority, government money, and government schools, they are still sticking to the old model despite growing evidence that it has seized up, like an engine without oil.