> We need to collectively choose to structure education for the benefit of society because we want people to be educated.
so it is done already with k-12 education. Not everybody agrees that tertiary education should be paid for by the state, but do agree that the state should help subsidize a bit.
This is the education loan system that is the collective decision.
And that 56 year old decision by Governer Reagan should be revisited.*
A majority of people get a college degree these days. It isn't some effete luxury of the literati in country club colleges. If someone is willing to do the hard work of educating themselves we should support it without burdening them with a lifetime of debt.
You want a doctorate and are willing to put in the years of effort? Good, we need more. It should be free. It's not like information is a scarce resource these days. Spending years of your life to defend a dissertation is a big enough sacrifice.
We need to collectively choose to structure education for the benefit of society because we want people to be educated.
It's not about consumer choices or utility functions. That type of thinking has zero place here.