Not everyone wants or needs to get a well-rounded liberal arts education. The problem is that undergraduate degrees are more and more a prerequisite for getting any job, so there's pressure to make it easy for poorer people to earn a degree. Towards that end we have loans, grants, scholarships, subsidized city colleges and state universities...
> The problem is that undergraduate degrees are more and more a prerequisite for getting any job
That is dependent on the economic cycle. In boom times employers hire anybody with a pulse, in bust times the glut of resumes for a job opening makes employers choosy. If out of all resumes for a retail associate job one candidate stands out due to his MBA and experience, he will likely get the job. That does not imply, however, that all retail associate positions now require MBAs.
Something must be missing from the US formulation of "better democracy through education."
We spend a huge sum of money on "education" in the US, but the two-party, democratic government we have obtained for ourselves has left a huge fraction of the people dissatisfied and impoverished.
I can only imagine that limiting loans and aid to the pursuit of an accredited degree makes the difference between financing a lifestyle and financing something that is guaranteed worthwhile (if we believe accreditation).
