About a month ago, I came across a pair of letters online. The first, simply signed “Alumnus,” is an angry retort to his alma mater’s request for a donation. He is irritated that his degrees and the time and money spent on them have left him $40,000 in debt and unemployed for two years-plus after graduation. The second, signed “A Dedicated Professor,” is an attempt to take Alumnus to task for his lack of understanding about the significance of a true education—something he accuses Alumnus of lacking despite his earned degrees. According to Dedicated Professor, an education is not about economic potential, but about far loftier concerns of intellectual edification and opening the human mind.
Though seemingly at odds, the two complaints complement each other, for each proceeds from the way our culture views a college education—a way that is no longer tenable.
