Even if it was meant as satire, I have definitely known a scary number of the people being parodied there. Small, sharp, hard-headed. No poetry in the soul. A person like that just fully doesn’t get the need for college to be a place to become a deep, well-rounded, open-minded person where your understanding of yourself, your fellow man, and the world around you can evolve in leaps and bounds. To the college-as-job-factory folks it is simply a place to install valuable marketplace skills and the student loans are a pure business transaction.

I feel the exact opposite, that we as a society should pay for (or at least heavily subsidize) a broad college education so that we put people on the track to being the best versions of themselves before we release them back into the wild world of civilization. I want to work with people driven by a mission, chat with people who are curious and interesting, buy from artisans who are performing a craft with all their heart, live near people who are considerate and kind, and vote with people who have a strong moral core.

Liberal arts education is not the only path, but I think it’s one of the ways people hone those qualities in themselves.