Is College Education Worth It? The scam of higher education. By Walter Williams.

In 1970, only 11 percent of adult Americans held college degrees. These degree holders were viewed as the nation’s best and brightest. Today, over 30 percent hold college degrees, with a significant portion of these graduates not demonstrably smarter or more disciplined than the average American. Declining academic standards and grade inflation tend to confirm employer perceptions that college degrees say little about job readiness. …

During a recent University of North Carolina scandal, a learning specialist hired to help athletes found that during the period from 2004 to 2012, 60 percent of the 183 members of the football and basketball teams read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. About 10 percent read below a third-grade level. These were students with high-school diplomas and admitted to UNC. And it’s not likely that UNC is the only university engaging in such gross fraud. …

The bottom line is that college is not for everyone. There is absolutely no shame in a youngster’s graduating from high school and learning a trade. Doing so might earn him much more money than many of his peers who attend college.

hat-tip Stephen Neil