was considered a requirement for an industrialized society. That decision was made before the invention of the telephone, automobile, airplane or computer. That decision made the United States of America the leading engineering and manufacturing country in the world. We won WWI and WWII because if it.
We became the leading country in the world. The GI bill allowed a whole generation of post WWII vets to attend college and that inspired a whole generation of innovators.
Now, we've shut that down by imposing unbearable debt upon a whole generation of American youths. No wonder no one wants to go to college but that attitude will just let the USA descend into just another third world nation.
How much more technically sophisticated are we now? What's wrong with just adding four more years of free education if we are to compete with the EU or China?