Ben Shapiro cut through the fashionable myths in his recent commentary, reminding Americans what college used to be: a place to learn marketable skills, build character, and prepare for real work rather than preach partisan ideology. His message to Gen Z — that the calculus of college has changed and that young people must think strategically about whether a four-year degree is truly the best path — landed hard with millions who are tired of watching credential inflation ruin lives.
The financial reality Shapiro warns about is impossible to ignore: American families carry crushing education debt while the economy and job market ask for skills, not majors that rarely lead to gainful employment. Federal borrowing has ballooned into the trillions and delinquency rates spiked as pandemic-era pauses ended, revealing how fragile countless households are after the college bill arrives. This is not theory — it is the lived consequence of choices that prioritized prestige and political signaling over return on investment.
Sticker prices and the proliferation of administrative bloat have made the college experience far less about learning and far more about theatre and indoctrination. Even the official trends show tuition and fees rising year after year in too many programs while academic rigor in many departments is replaced by ideological conformity. Conservatives have warned for years that pretending a bachelor’s diploma is a one-size-fits-all ticket to success would end badly for working-class families, and that warning has now been vindicated.
Worse, Ben is right to point out that leaving campus doesn’t mean leaving woke culture behind — corporations and HR departments have become eager enforcers of the same orthodoxy that dominates professors’ lounges. When business bends the knee to the loudest ideological factions, it turns workplaces into extensions of the university grievance machine and punishes merit and free speech in the process. Young Americans deserve workplaces that value accomplishment and individual responsibility, not performative virtue signaling.
There is a sane, conservative path forward: expand apprenticeships, rebuild vocational training, incentivize employer-driven skills pipelines, and reward institutions that teach practical, marketable skills instead of pageantry. The federal push to grow registered apprenticeships and the rising attention to learn-and-earn models prove this is doable if policymakers stop subsidizing pointless degrees and start funding real opportunity. Families and taxpayers should demand outcomes over rhetoric and insist that education policy serve the nation’s economic needs first.
Patriots who love this country must stop treating higher education like an untouchable altar. We should encourage our kids to pursue apprenticeships, technical schools, military service, or majors tied to clear career paths when that makes sense, and we should hold colleges accountable when they sell ideology instead of useful skills. The conservative solution is simple: restore common sense, defend free speech on campus, and champion avenues that build prosperous, independent Americans rather than debtors dependent on government bailouts.
