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<p>Absolutely agree - and your caveat is noted and appreciated - not to take this thread off-topic, but among K12 reforms, I’d favor longer school years and better mechanisms to isolate and protect willing and eager learners from negative influences - I’ve witnessed too many astute kids dragged into academic mediocrity by negative peer pressure and dumbed-down classes. </p>
<p>Anymore, a bit more on-topic - another area worthy of consideration is far greater availability of technical / occupational training as an alternative to college. I know many, many kids for whom college tuition isn’t the real problem - many wouldn’t go even if it were free. Coming from low- to middle-income families, they want to earn some money, now, and the thought of four more years of little/no income isn’t as appealing as getting some retail job and earning some money <em>now</em>. I’d argue many of those same kids might make a different choice if they were offered the alternative to learn a skilled trade, such as computer systems admin, carpentry, electrician, HVAC, etc. </p>
<p>Bear in mind, many of the most successful people in our history never graduated from college - I’d suspect many of them were restless, creative types who couldn’t sit still for four (more) years - Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, none of them finished college. </p>
<p>Rather than putting a lot more into colleges, to benefit those who’ll probably go to college in any event, I’d rather see increased investments in K12 and technical / occupational training programs.</p>