With the average tuition and room and board at four-year private colleges up 800 percent since 1980, it’s time to ask if a bachelor’s degree is worthwhile (“Book Review: Two on Student Debt,” The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 2). That’s particularly so when graduates are only modestly wealthier than those who never went to college in the first place.

I keep coming back to “The Sheepskin Psychosis” by John Keats that was published in 1965.  Keats said that college is merely the most convenient place to learn how to learn; it is not an absolute determinant. He correctly charged that we have been wildly oversold on the value of a four-year degree.

If more young people and their parents had read Keats’s book, they would be spared the financial crisis they find themselves in. 

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Despite New York State law requiring religious schools to provide an education substantially equivalent to that provided by public schools, yeshivas continue to be non-compliant (“Ultra-Orthodox kids deserve better,” New York Daily News, July 30).  They view secular education as irrelevant to their way of life.

I believe in parental choice as long as it does not violate the law.  The right of parents to direct the education their children receive goes only so far.  The courts have held that religious beliefs do not trump the law.  For example, when Christian Scientists withheld medical treatment for their child and the child died, the parents were criminally charged.

When children cannot read or write, yeshivas need to be held accountable.  Unfortunately, politicians have been reluctant to shut them down because of their support at election time.

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Affirmative action is back in the news because the Supreme Court once again will consider its role in college admissions. The argument for its continuation is that meritocracy and diversity can simultaneously exist (“Can Affirmative Action Survive?” The New Yorker, July 26).

I disagree.  The two are fundamentally at odds.  Perhaps in theory, they are possible, but in reality they are not.  The California Institute of Technology has long admitted students solely on the basis of their grades and test scores, with no preference whatsoever given to racial minorities, athletes, legacies or development cases.

As a result, Asians constituted more than 40 percent of Cal Tech’s undergraduate student body at last count.  I see nothing at all wrong with that outcome. Asians are the most qualified to handle the rigorous academic work based on their academic track record, and deserve to be admitted accordingly.

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The pandemic has resulted in a rise in the number of students in summer school (“Nearing Fourth Grade, and Racing to Catch Up,” The New York Times, July 26).  Although summer school is well intentioned, it is no substitute for the traditional school year.

How can it be when both teachers and students are under intense pressure to cram into the few weeks knowledge and skills best covered over a period of months?  Like credit recovery, summer school shortchanges students, but neither will disappear.

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When the former chief executive of student-loan giant Sallie Mae admits that it is criminal what colleges charge for tuition, it’s finally time to ask why (“A Student-Loan Titan Thinks Twice,” The Wall Street Journal, July 24). The short answer, as Al Lord said, is that they keep raising tuition because they can.

What would happen, however, if enough young people and their parents said enough and began to boycott colleges and universities?  I’ve long maintained that we have been wildly oversold on the importance of a college degree.  College is merely the most convenient place to learn how to learn.  It is not an absolute requirement. 

So many majors leave graduates ill prepared to enter the workplace.  Those that manage to land a job find that what they studied in college has little relevance to their tasks. 

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Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. is the first school to offer a bachelor’s degree in diversity, equity and inclusion, but it will certainly not be the last (“University debuts nation’s first bachelor’s degree in diversity, equity and inclusion,” thecollegefix.com, July 23). I say that because we are obsessed with the idea that the proper racial mix in the workplace is the No. 1 goal.

I don’t doubt that the new major will attract many applicants who hope to use their degree to land a well-paying job in corporate America.  But I wonder if other majors would not be just as helpful.  I remember when some colleges began to offer bachelor’s degrees in public relations.  However, the degree opened no doors because the majority of those in PR had backgrounds as working journalist

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The nation’s obsession with mathematical and verbal ability overlooks the need for workers in the trades.  Identifying them depends on the importance of recognizing spatial ability early on (“We Are Leaving ‘Lost Einsteins’ Behind,” The New York Times, July 21). 

Unfortunately, vocational education is never accorded the respect it deserves.  As a result, many young people who can make a valuable contribution to the nation’s economy are shortchanged.

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There was a time when admission to law schools in this country was based on grades and test scores.  But they are now under pressure to make them racially diverse (“Why the Lawyers Cartel Is Pushing for Woke Law Schools,” The Wall Street Journal, July 16). 

I have no objection to the overall goal, but I question whether the move is overlooking something important. Most law schools still rely heavily on the Socratic method, which involves grilling individual students. But if students complain that such aggressive questioning makes them uncomfortable, which it unavoidably does, then I bet that time-honored technique will be abandoned.

As a result, the quality of instruction will suffer and graduates will be shortchanged. 

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Teaching about racism in schools is one thing, but teaching all subjects solely through the lens of racism is quite another (“How to Raise Kids Who Won’t Be Racist,” The New York Times, Jul. 15).  There will always be some parents who want to totally ban racism from the curriculum, but I maintain that the overwhelming majority have no objection as long as it doesn’t become an obsession.

Unfortunately, that is not the case today.  Every single subject is affected by the demand to make racism the paramount factor. That is going to shortchange students in this country. Students abroad don’t have to deal with the same pressure about racism.

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It won’t be long before high school seniors will have to decide if applying to a four-year college or university is worthwhile.  So much has already been written about the pros and cons, but I always come back to a slim volume published in 1965 by John Keats entitled “The Sheepskin Psychosis” as the best advice for young people.

Keats wrote that college is merely the most convenient place to learn how to learn.  It is not an absolute determinant, despite what everyone seems to think.  In short, he correctly believes that we have been wildly oversold on the value of a bachelor’s degree.

When few adults continued their education beyond high school, possession of a degree in any field meant something.  But today, its value has been so diluted as to be little more than a high school diploma.

I’ve written this often before in this column: College is not for everyone because not everyone is college material.  Most would be better served by pursuing a vocational curriculum in high school, coupled with an apprenticeship.  Other countries with robust economies have long known this, which is why a degree abroad is indeed prestigious.

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