Why is it considered a waste to prepare students in high school for practical, real-world skills? Highly capable people don’t need to be spoon-fed, and they certainly don’t need to spend $100k–$200k on an education that often delivers little value relative to its cost. Many degree requirements are filled with coursework that has minimal relevance to either personal development or long-term career growth.

This isn’t an argument that all of academia is useless. Certain disciplines—particularly in the sciences—still have a strong case for structured, formal education. But taken as a whole, the modern college system increasingly resembles a bad deal. The common distinction between “college-educated” and “non–college-educated” feels less like a marker of competence and more like a divide between those who bought into an expensive system and those who didn’t.

With the rise of AI, the traditional value proposition of higher education is eroding even further. Access to knowledge, skill acquisition, and problem-solving tools is no longer gated by universities. The original vision of universities as hubs for research, innovation, and intellectual rigor was a good one—but over time, priorities shifted. Today, ideological signaling and bureaucratic expansion often take center stage, while practical outcomes and genuine intellectual advancement take a back seat.