Two thirds of today’s American high school graduates go on to attend college, and a large portion of those will attend a traditional four-year college.
Some people see the American college experience as a cripplingly expensive four-year drunken summer camp that only needs to happen because both American society and the American workforce views college as a critical component of being an educated human being and viable white-collar employee.
Others view it as the best time in people’s lives, opening their minds to new things, expanding their understanding of the world, offering insight into who they are and what they want to do with their lives, and introducing them to their closest life-long friends or their spouse.
Is America’s college system a good thing or something that should change? If it’s a good thing, should attending college be a goal of every American, or does college only make sense for certain people? If the system should be changed, can it be fixed with a few key tweaks, or should we question the entire notion of spending the years between 18 and 22 in college?
I began writing my answer, but I have enough thoughts on this to make a full post about it, so I’ll do that instead, sometime soon.
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