So, what do they really get?
heyhey gave some great points, I'll try to supplement them after paying him that suppliment.
I'm serious here. Other than the debt, what has that younger cop gotten? Both cops went through the Police Academy. Both cops learned what they need to learn in the Police Academy.
40 years ago, we didn't have Miranda warnings, our search and seizure routines were haphazard, and interrogations were often brutal.
We decided we wanted a more civilized way of dealing with criminals. That requires police capable of dealing with abstract principals like the right to silence, the sanctity of personal property, and the methods of non-violent interrogations. Even if you don'[t deal with these specific abstractions in your college education, college is where you go to learn to apply and use the process of abstraction generally.
Another example: most doctors in the world are bachelors degrees. Why do we require ours to obtain doctorates? What does the Dr learn in his undergraduate studies that makes it essential to becoming a Dr? Other than the debt, what did we do for the Dr?
As I understand it, you are advocating for, basically, going directly from high school to the equivalent of medical school, and skipping the undergraduate school in between. I've never worked for a medical school. However, I'm confident they have good reasons for not only admitting college graduates, but showing a preference for certain majors over other majors. To my understanding, mathematics is one of the best majors for a prospective doctor. That indicates a preference to the ability to engage in pattern detection and quantitative reasoning.
Same with school teachers. It used to be, to be a school teacher, all you needed was a teaching certificate. Now, most places want a bachelors degree. My sister did her bachelors in education. She didn't learn calculus. She didn't take extra history or english or literature or writing classes. So, what was the point? Other than the debt she came out of school with, what did she really come away with that teacher's in the past were so desperately missing?
I did take a couple of education classes. We learned about child psychology, developmental stages, and methods of successful communication (it seems you can't treat most kids like adults after all).
Take a look at the list of degrees offered by most colleges and universities. What good are they? Most are completely useless. So, what is this huge advantage we are getting over being more educated?
With some degrees, the practical benefit is immediate. With others, the benefit is general, but applies widely. There are also some where you have to be very creative in crafting and applying the skills you have learned. For example, we don't need many professional philosophers, but we could certainly use more decision makers who carefully thought out the consequences of their positions. I think Congress would benefit by balancing out the lawyers with a few philosophers.
... we aren't less ignorant by any stretch of the means.
But, hey, at least we can read about what Kim Kardashian is up to, right?
I use technology every day that my grandfather would have been perplexed by (and he was a pretty smart guy). We are less ignorant, overall, than the American populace of 150 years. In fact, every few years, they make IQ tests a little more difficult (look up
the Flynn effect).
