[SturgeonsLaw]

Make education free. I'd love to study something like philosophy or art history but there's just no return on that investment. Unless you're already wealthy, it doesn't make sense to drop five or six figures on a degree unless it's likely to pay for itself.

Which is even becoming less likely with STEM, as we hit a confluence of higher education costs, fewer job openings, and AI as a competitor for work.

[piloto_ciego]

I totally agree! And I think you're right! Education should be free.

[rbanffy]

Another thing we can add is sealing grades. If you can’t use your grades as a credential, the incentive to cheat is reduced. This won’t solve the relation between getting a job and living - that’s a job for UBI and a comprehensive social security system.

[piloto_ciego]

Or, maybe we get rid of them. Like maybe the idea of having grades is kind of silly in the first place?

[eudamoniac]

Free education and no grades with no business purpose already exists; it's called learning about things that interest you on your own time. I don't see why the taxpayer needs to pay for someone to do this.

[piloto_ciego]

Then you're missing the point of higher education.

[eudamoniac]

No, I understand the point of it, I just don't think it is worth the tens of thousands per person that it would cost to do it. I could accept a value argument for free university education in some form, but that form would not be for gradeless/credentialless unproductive studies.

And it's not just that it would cost a lot, it's that it would cost a lot and a motivated person can already do a 90% job of it for free on their own.

[rbanffy]

Your grades tell you and your teachers how well you are doing. It's a useful feedback tool.

[piloto_ciego]

It really isn't though, grade inflation is decidedly a thing.

[rbanffy]

It is a useful measurement. It won’t allow you to compare beyond a short horizon, but it’s useful to gauge your own progress.

[bell-cot]

Old geezer question: Are you thinking to make education free? Or to give everyone 4+ years at the upscale-lifestyle-resorts-with-classes which the US's major universities have evolved into over the past half century?

[piloto_ciego]

Middle aged geezer answer:

I don’t think my university experience when I went to grad school several years ago was a “upscale lifestyle resort.” But maybe things are different on the east coast or whatever?

But I’d say, yeah, if you’re young/poor you oughta be able to get room and board covered too?

[bell-cot]

Fair enough.

FWIW, I live near the Univ. of Michigan. I've talked to a well-to-do stockbroker, who graduated from U-M a couple decades ago - but can't believe just how opulent U-M's latest round of rebuilding their old undergraduate dorms was.

Suffice to say that none of his own ample wealth is going to the U.