[vmception]

All three cases by this author are only controversial because we have ignored a greater point: colleges don’t exist to get you a job. They exist for a class of society, a finishing school where they all meet each other and collaborate on the obscure arts that weave the fabric of our reality.

It has been this way for a millennium.

The workforce started using them en masse 60 years ago and we’ve been trying to patch this concept ever since. It is great that we have large populations educated in advanced multidisciplinary concepts. There is also no way for the university concept to not exacerbate inequality.

This still leaves the need for a way to screen for competent people, something that shows discipline and life stability to commit to something. I think the apprentice concept and trade school does that. Germany has this fairly institutionalized (and also free university). I hope larger economic unions are able to reconcile this.

[JoshTko]

I'm continually surprised with how few people, even on HN, understand why private education exacerbates inequality. Limiting access to valuable information to only those who know how to navigate the secretive process will favor those with means. In this case the valuable information impacts lifetime earning income potential hence perpetuating inequality.

I think this blind spot is because many people derive part of their identity with their university.

[vmception]

I’m not surprised about the HN crowd. It fits squarely in the blind spots here.

All the aspiring foreigners aren’t in the US higher education system, and the ones that are overcame other forms of adversity and are fairly exceptional or are party members in China that are practically tasked with going to an American school.

And the Americans? Mostly upper middle class, benefactors of a support system.

[david38]

Except in science this is largely untrue. There is very little Stanford can teach you about computer science that Berkeley can’t.

It’s been shown that the class someone ends up in is far more correlated with their parents than their college. This is why poor kids who go to Harvard typically don’t get rich.

People tend to vastly overestimate the effect a college has on income for almost all fields.

[dfxm12]

I think it's because people are afraid to cop to their privilege. This is based on how defensive people get when it is pointed out. I understand this response on an emotional level, but that should really pass after giving it a second thought (this, of course, assumes one is self aware enough to reflect on it).

[KineticLensman]

> Germany has this fairly institutionalized

In the UK some organisations belong to 'the 5 percent club' [0] whose aim is that at least 5% of the workforce is formed from apprentices and sponsored graduates. It's not yet institutionalized but a good step in the right direction. I used to work for one of the founder organisations and it was quite common to meet prople who had joined as apprentices and were now achieving good work place qualifications and experience. I was always impressed by their motivation and pragmatism

[0] https://www.5percentclub.org.uk/

[tiahura]

colleges don’t exist to get you a job. They exist for a class of society, a finishing school where they all meet each other and collaborate on the obscure arts that weave the fabric of our reality.

Not in the US. Harvard was founded in 1636 as a vocational school. The Morrill Act, signed by Lincoln, established the land grant universities. "The mission of these institutions as set forth in the 1862 Act is to focus on the teaching of practical agriculture, science, military science, and engineering (though "without excluding... classical studies") as a response to the industrial revolution and changing social class." Wikipedia.

Woke is tiresome.

[vmception]

Something having a mission doesn’t mean it is accomplishing that. The actual rebuttal would be about how well it accomplishes a mission, not chiseling at my phrasing.

[908B64B197]

The French styles Polytechniques were also founded with very practical applications in mind. And that was in 1794.