I agree that most of higher education is wasteful signaling. But in my (admittedly limited) experience, the typical American high school dropout lacks functiona

I agree that most of higher education is wasteful signaling. But in my (admittedly limited) experience, the typical American high school dropout lacks functional literacy, numeracy and basic factual knowledge. I don’t think trigonometry or foreign language is an essential skill for 99% of people. But explaining simple ideas in writing, or being able to compare the costs of a yearly vs monthly billing plan, or knowing how birth control works are pretty important life skills.