Beetle, as you well know, I have only the US educational experience to pull from with what I witness.
College isn't bad, it just isn't automatically good, and certainly isn't worth it from the many of the masses who've gone through the gauntlet. Universities weren't always run this way. Working with many graduates and post-graduates who are 65+ years old in my field of work have opened my eyes to this--add to that the shocking observation I'm often one of the youngest people in the very necessary work I do made me realize something is wrong...I should have 22 year-olds running circles around li'l uneducated me and making it hard to get work. On the contrary, I'm a spectacle at meetings and conventions... "...it's so great to see a young face in our field!" Add to that the handful of college-age kids (and I mean, handful: five) that already have internships in similar areas like mine leading to six-figure careers because there's no competition, it makes me wonder.
College, around here, seems to be about the "experience" with a piece of paper you get at the end. It hasn't prepped many kids for jobs, work, or internships. Part of that is any of the industries that could be involved with the colleges/universities laying down and merely accepting the fact they aren't politically-correct enough to have a presence on a campus (pick any industrial application, the dirty stuff people are trying to ignore are a vital part of modern civilization), so the blame is two-fold, at least.
The University of Nevada Reno used to have one of the most comprehensive and respected mining engineering programs around. The mining companies used to have a huge part in helping to subsidize education, prepare students for careers, and establish fast-track internships for students. That meant people earning degrees and paying for tuition kept their money in the state's economy, and found jobs close to home. Besides the new administrations that have been shoring up their ranks in politics, the proper donors and good-buddy tenure teaching positions systematically dismantling all but the most basic of geology and mining programs/courses, UNR now gives out a majority of degrees in things like political science, environmental biology and generic engineering--which not only make it impossible for students to get jobs, they take them outside the state, leaving us with a vacuum of general labor (casino-related, mostly), which perpetuates the idea Reno isn't a town other businesses want to set up shop. Why? Because people with money, spend money, improve towns, pay taxes for other things, and the like. If they take their degrees, provided they're useful, elsewhere, poof, a so-called crappy town.
Regarding mining, which is Nevada's real strength, the fact maybe a half dozen students graduate with degrees even half-way useful to the industry, an industry desperate for talent and workers, an industry with plenty of money to pay them good salaries with 14% unemployment, is a damn shame. Kids also largely are enamored by the urban life, big cities with convenient trains, bike paths, health food stores and Internet coffee shops. They have been taught small towns are shit, getting dirty is uncool, and air conditioning is where it's at (pardon my preposition). That's all well and good, but they could have their cake and eat it to by making their town better, having their conveniences and chosen luxuries while still working a little dirtier than a big city dream job as a video game designer or bicycle frame engineer.
All of those things require what I do, what my industry does. They could do it here, where there's a better working condition than China (and not nearly as environmentally worse, ironically), but the school system is more concerned with itself and its image--which in turn, does a disservice for all involved. They often sell a dream with little regard to how it's working out in the long run.
That's just here. However, my industry is world-wide, and I talk to a lot of folks, young and old, educated and laborer, that all are scratching their heads just as often as I.
