NYT: common sense overrated, [but see KSR!]

The concluding lines of an article in the New York Times titled
Saying No to College

Jean Fan, a high school senior in San Mateo, Calif., is an editor for UnCollege, where she hopes to help inspire students to evolve “from passive to active learners.”

Even so, she is busy applying to elite universities right now. She recognizes the irony.

“In terms of grades and test scores, I’m one of the top students at school,” said Ms. Fan, 17. “College seemed like the obvious next step.”

She added, “Common sense, of course, is highly overrated.”

The topic of lawyers comes up elsewhere in the article

Even the staunchest critics of college concede that a diploma is still necessary for many professions — law and medicine, clearly, and in many cases, for a Fortune 500 executive, too. But that’s the point: how many more lawyers and middle managers do we need?

“College is training for managerial work, and the economy doesn’t need that many managers,” said Michael Ellsberg, the author of “The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won’t Learn In College About How to Be Successful.”

And a quote from James Altucher :

“So what is happening is, rich people can still afford college, but poor people are borrowing this money and sacrificing their future for a lifetime of debt.”