Letter to the editor: College worth

To the editor:

Regarding your editorial on July 14, the “education data” may indeed be “troubling,” but here are a couple of other reasons why less than half of Kansas high school graduates are attending college:

• Word is slowly getting out that a college degree is no guarantee for a good job. Indeed, with the staggering amount of college debt the average student incurs, it may make more sense to bypass college and begin working in that minimum-wage job right after high school.

• Related to the above, much of higher learning has been transformed into a money-making business for those who control the issue of diplomas. Whoever said it should take four to five years to graduate from college? The typical degree program appears to be predicated less upon the transfer of knowledge and more upon sucking as much tuition out of the student as possible.

• Why go to college and pay to listen to some windbag when you can access the accumulated knowledge/wisdom on your smartphone?

Besides the sheer economics, there might be a method in the state’s madness concerning the low percentage of young Kansans pursuing higher education. The folks running the show have discovered that ignorant sheeple are much easier to lead than intellectually curious (and demanding) citizens.