Values have changed. Universities were one only for the rich. Students were only of slightly above average intelligence (Jordan Peterson mentions this). Some ti

Values have changed. Universities were one only for the rich. Students were only of slightly above average intelligence (Jordan Peterson mentions this). Some time in the 20th century (I'm guessing 50's or 60's) we recognised the importance of education, and universities changed from being a place of the financial elite to more of a place of the intellectual elite. In the 70's, and earlier parts of the 80's, a university degree was your passport to a job. You had a university degree. You KNEW something. In the UK students were given a grant. As the saying goes, what a wise man does in the beginning, a fool does in the end. Time passed, this mindset persisted, but things changed. The whole thing became increasingly commoditised, universities now seem less like seats of learning and more like commercial enterprises, with people talking all manner of crap about "return on investment". Graduation fees were tagged on and students nickeled-and-dimed at every opportunity. The US seems to be particularly egregious in that respect. The whole thing has become a fiasco. Universities and governments want to keep the game going as long as possible, with young people being suckered into enormous debt on the premise that they'll get a good job out of it. That premise is looking increasingly sketchy. What "should" happen, IMO, is a return to the 70's. School pupils should get a good educational grounding through O levels. You can then get a job, or pursue further education either with an academic bent (A levels) or a vocational bent. For the really bright, the possibility of university exists. For the less bright, but those who want to pursue skilled professions requiring a lot of knowledge, there is (or at least was) Polytechnics. We don't have that, though. What we have is a monstrosity of a system that still seems to be able to sustain itself despite common sense dictating that it is no longer fit for purpose. How long can this continue? I don't know. I do hope it collapses, though. We need a better system than the one we've got at the moment.