> Unfortunately, the USA conflates universities and applied universities. This. I wish this point were brought up more often in these discussions in favor of/a

> Unfortunately, the USA conflates universities and applied universities. This. I wish this point were brought up more often in these discussions in favor of/against universities. People tend to have entirely different ideas when it comes to what a higher-level education should provide: For some people it's a scientific way of thinking about the world, for others it's just preparation for a future (and hopefully better-paying) job. Separating those ideas might be a good first step in solving this conundrum.