I used the word "schooling" instead of "education" intentionally, as I was speaking more about institutionalized, credential-backed education. College used to

I used the word "schooling" instead of "education" intentionally, as I was speaking more about institutionalized, credential-backed education. College used to open doors. Now it's essentially mandatory if you want even the right to apply for a decent white-collar job, and doesn't guarantee anything, because far too many people are going and there are too few good entry-level jobs out there. The only way to save college is to cut it back to the status of something that's available to an elite 5-10%-- and I (along with most of us) would obviously prefer that this "elite" be chosen based purely on talent and not on means or family connections. However, my point on the "idea [...] that schooling opens doors and improves one's life" was not that this idea is false. On the contrary, it's true of grade school, high school, and college. It's an idea that is dangerous on account of being true for a long time, then failing abruptly and catastrophically. (These are the sorts of ideas that form bubbles, e.g. tulip bulbs/tech stocks/houses are sure, good investments.) With humanities PhD programs, the connection between education and social mobility semi-silently ceases to be true at that level, and there are a lot of students who aren't aware of the switch that has taken place until it's too late to turn back.