When everybody's somebody, then no one's anybody!

So said Gilbert and Sullivan in "The Gondoliers."

This afternoon I've been reading a piece about the Gates Foundation's involvement in higher education.  The article asserts, "Gates has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into getting more students to and through college, in an effort to lift more Americans out of poverty."

Dr. Stanley Katz, who directs a Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at Princeton is quoted observing, "There is too much emphasis on getting people through the system, processing them.  That needs to be seen in relation to what students are in fact learning.  It's a big problem and it's getting very little discussion." 

The article adds that short term, immediate employment after education is also a goal.

But what if a college degree is the equivalent, or even less than, a high school diploma 100 years ago?

What if technology is destroying more jobs than it creates?

What if globalization is taking away more jobs than it's bringing to our shores?

If so, a bachelor's degree may be of little real value.

If everybody's somebody...