I feel like so many of the incentives in modern society are rigged to approach the "problem" of what to do with your people from the wrong end.
You put them through public school to... train them to work in factories. Because that is the original and persistent intent of what a high school education leaves you capable of.
You then siphon them into university then because... they need the means to live, and the only way to get it is with specialized skills.
Like with many things the original functions of what these programs were meant to achieve (creating a capable working class for regimented jobs of the era) have been totally lent to obsolescence but the systems remain as if nothing changed.
Not even STEM justifies the cost of university. We could be collectively saving absurd amounts of time and money if 14 year olds were electing to pursue a STEM career and simply shadowed professionals for 4-8 years and learned through first hand experience while reading books and doing online regimented lecture learning about the subjects on their own or in collaborative groups of their peers. You wouldn't need extravagant institutions costing absurd amounts of upkeep to maintain just to fail to produce capable scientists and mathematicians because they graduate with often only a rote understanding of ten+ year outdated domain knowledge and no experience practically applying any of it.
> STEM career and simply shadowed professionals for 4-8 years and learned through first hand experience
I believe that's called a PhD :)
But I totally agree that much of the system we've invented is a mistake, basically from having the causality backwards. People who went to university did well, made more than those who worked in factories. So we decided that (after closing the factories) we should send the entire population there, so they can all do well! But it doesn't work like that...
I think basic educational theory would conclude that College/University should be an opportunity for people to 'learn how to learn', network, enjoy life while young, among other things. Whether everyone that goes to university actually does that is up to the individual.
Society/government can only do so much to push people towards success. I agree that a lot of people go to college without being prepared or able and that adds to the cost. It is the cost of failure that society has accepted up until today, we will see if it changes.
You put them through public school to... train them to work in factories. Because that is the original and persistent intent of what a high school education leaves you capable of.
You then siphon them into university then because... they need the means to live, and the only way to get it is with specialized skills.
Like with many things the original functions of what these programs were meant to achieve (creating a capable working class for regimented jobs of the era) have been totally lent to obsolescence but the systems remain as if nothing changed.
Not even STEM justifies the cost of university. We could be collectively saving absurd amounts of time and money if 14 year olds were electing to pursue a STEM career and simply shadowed professionals for 4-8 years and learned through first hand experience while reading books and doing online regimented lecture learning about the subjects on their own or in collaborative groups of their peers. You wouldn't need extravagant institutions costing absurd amounts of upkeep to maintain just to fail to produce capable scientists and mathematicians because they graduate with often only a rote understanding of ten+ year outdated domain knowledge and no experience practically applying any of it.