...yes, I don't think the state of our higher eduction has improved in the (counts) 7 years I've been gone. I'd have to play the system like everyone else there

...yes, I don't think the state of our higher eduction has improved in the (counts) 7 years I've been gone. I'd have to play the system like everyone else there is doing, and my honest opinion is that degrees are an over-produced commodity in the developed world today. On the plus side, many have pointed out that the true value of a degree program isn't the courses, the books, and the shiny paper at the end, but the contacts you make there and what you can learn from talking to the professors one on one. Looking at my U-grad friends, I've come to realizes university does not educate people or give them any sort of knowledge. University is a place where you can education yourself and obtain whatever knowledge you seek for yourself.