I feel like the author is ignoring a giant caveat. The liberal educational ideal has always been connected to a certain degree of elitism. The author quotes Jef

I feel like the author is ignoring a giant caveat. The liberal educational ideal has always been connected to a certain degree of elitism. The author quotes Jefferson about broad access to liberal education, but Jefferson himself expected his university to be for only the cream of the crop. Something like the top 1% cognitive elite. Jefferson's argument about breadth was more about building a feeder system that would educate each person up to their maximum ability -- with the expectation that only very few would go all the way through college. If instead you want to build a system where most people can successfully get through college, you need to meet very different economic and social constraints.