It is hard to say that a college education is necessary for many jobs it is required for (or required to be competitive for). Especially given that many people entering college haven't actually reached a high school level of competency. You definitely need a college education to go to med school but, again, I don't think that Comms or Psych degree buys anyone that much.
Hard to say that education isn't practically a monopoly especially for undeserved communities. You get stuck with bloated public schools with long track records of failure. The teachers unions vehemently oppose any democratization efforts through charter schools or school choice initiatives. In fact, many in these unions want to openly abolish private and charter schools as well as home schooling. It is not the realm of conspiracy to point out that the teachers Unions represent some of the most potent Unions in the US, the safest (their work has not been outsourced) and some of the most steadfast supporters of one particular political party.
So yes, I think it's a racket. I think that idiots in the Department of Education a generation ago made the sophomoric determination that if everyone had college degrees, everyone would get high wages, and we've seen an explosion in the college-student population, an opening of the federal loan floodgates, an explosion in student debt, a balooning in University tuition, costs, and beuracracy, and these initiatives have essentially turned our education system into a jobs program. Many school districts knowingly pass substandard students for whatever reason. The math competency rate in the LA public school system is something like 30%. With the twin combination of abject failure to maintain standards in K-12 and massive tuition increases in college, one has to wonder whether we are passing these kids merely to keep the would be costumer population strong. The cynic in me would argue that the much touted "college experience" is another unjustified selling point pitched to naive children who end up mortgaging their future to pay for this bloat.
Again, I am not defending Carib schools, per se. I just don't see them as exceptionally more predatory than the rest of the education system. I went to High School like the rest of yall. I saw my peers consciously directed in a college-only manner despite knowing full well many of them would not thrive in college at that time. Many of my peers went on to get useless degrees if at all and are no better for it. Many of them passed their time in Community Colleges, aimless, only to drop out. They are degree-less yet still carry student debt without the benefit of any actual skill. Even at the rather strong acemic instition I go to, I rub elbows with plenty want-to-be Med students whose abilities would be doubted by any reasonable person. We all know that a very large proportion of self-identified premeds will ultimately fail to matriculate, that their education costs billions of dollars, and yet we only seem to take exception to the Carib schools taking advantage of this money.
This is weird to me because the track record of the Carib schools, along with their reputation, is probably the most honest. It is hard to do any basic amount of internet research and then be duped by these schools, whereas plenty of US colleges thrive off of the nebulous promises of higher education that are hardly ever realized by their student population.
