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Compare Adam Smith's analysis in Wealth of Nations: "The time and study, the genius, knowledge, and application requisite to qualify an eminent teacher of the

Compare Adam Smith's analysis in Wealth of Nations: "The time and study, the genius, knowledge, and application requisite to qualify an eminent teacher of the sciences, are at least equal to what is necessary for the greatest practitioners in law and physic. But the usual reward of the eminent teacher bears no proportion to that of the lawyer or physician; because the trade of the one is crowded with indigent people who have been brought up to it at the public expence; whereas those of the other two are incumbered with very few who have not been educated at their own." - http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN4.html#I.10.94 http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN4.html#I.10.94

herdrick 17y ago
It's somewhat the opposite here. In fields like Computer Science there's more money available to pay for your education - it's typical to leave grad school without any debt, I think - than in the Humanities, where as the author pointed out it's typical to leave with huge student loan debt (which is undischargeable by bankruptcy, btw). I guess you could say that there are some fields like CS that can act as professional degrees even though they aren't officially so. And maybe it wasn't like this is Adam Smith's time, but today a large majority of working law school grads aren't working as lawyers. I think you're right - high tuition bills do make people think long and hard about going back to school. It's just that 22 year olds aren't so easily deterred from disastrous choices.