Today we got into a discussion about college: Is it worth it? Many commenters started in on how not every job requires a college degree, that it's a waste of time and money in many occasions, etc. But one commenter dissented.

From tonsoffuckingsequins:

The barely-hidden classism on this thread is really disturbing. Everyone in this country who wants to go to college should be able to; it's as simple as that. Economic reasons shouldn't be allowed to factor into that decision in the richest country on Earth. It may sound dumb or wasteful to you that there are mail carriers with B.A.'s, but it sounds dumb to me to have tens of millions of people who will never know a foreign language, or who will never meet someone who didn't grow up in their hometown. The survival of a democracy depends on an informed electorate, and the best way to create an informed electorate is to allow the willing to gain access to a liberal arts education.

Tom Wolfe on the topic: "In Roman times slaves could learn any type of schooling as long as it was only practical. They could take engineering, which was complicated but practical. They couldn't take philosophy, theology, history, rhetoric. These were all the arts of persuasion. They didn't want slaves to be able to deal with concepts that would lead them to say, 'We should be free'."

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