The high cost of higher education is something most Americans assume is ultimately worthwhile in the long run. Indeed, the cost of college degrees are increasing under the rationale that the market value of a degree makes the debt incurred – an average of $20,000 per student as of last year – worth it in the long run.

What if, though, the college experience was actually having a negative impact on our nation’s young adults?

A college degree still represents probably the greatest level of accomplishment for a young American, a symbol of achievement that, fittingly, given our culture’s egalitarian sensibilities, can more or less be attained by anyone with enough grit and gumption.

The latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that roughly 20 million Americans were enrolled in some form of higher education as of 2008, the vast majority, some 17.1 million, as undergraduates.

Now, with more students than ever before in college, one would presume we must be improving across the board when we try to measure the intellectual depth, technical know-how and overall managerial competence of the average college-educated citizen.

Oddly, though, we’re not improving; we’re actually getting worse. [Read more...]