[cko]

Perhaps it's not the "going to college" that puts one at an advantage, but the "being able to go to college." In other words, the people who are able to make the choice to go and afford it were already at an advantageous position.

[seanflyon]

That makes sense, but I don't think it is as big of a factor as the actual value of education. Our economy is increasingly shifting to skilled labor. If you have the right skill set, opportunities abound.

[dllthomas]

To some degree that's still begging the question of whether "education" in the traditional sense is the best way to acquire those skills. In the case of (a good school, a typical person) I think the answer is yes for an important chunk of those skills (while other important chunks are not learned well in that setting). As you move further from that case, more questions are raised, and of course partisans in the pro/anti ("traditional") education camps tend to ignore one or the other of the chunks I mentioned.

[seanflyon]

I think that surrounding yourself with other smart people with a common interest in learning and where you are expected to learn is the best way to acquire those skills. I think that is harder to find outside of formal educational programs.

[dllthomas]

I mostly agree.

[seanflyon]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I disagreed with you. When I think about what makes traditional education so valuable I don't think its the traditional education part of it. When one thinks about what makes a college a college, you think about the quality of the professors and curriculum and while I think that's valuable, I don't that's the key part.