# Resolved: The American people should significantly decrease the number of people attending colleges. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 21, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-american-people-should-significantly-decrease-the-number-of-people-attending-colleges/514653 "2009-10-21T18:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 139
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-american-people-should-significantly-decrease-the-number-of-people-attending-colleges/514653/139 "2009-10-30T18:30:35Z")
> [@kevlaw](#): > > I get that this supposed to be a joke, but your comments in this thread suggest that you really do believe that the alternative to college is ignorance. Maybe you can enlighten us on what you think it means to be “educated” and “well informed”? And what should a typical 18 year old do to become such a person? Or maybe you could share with us how you think someone who devotes himself to intellectul pursuits in a structured environment for four years isn’t more educated and less ignorant than someone who doesn’t? > [@Martini Enfield](#): > > And this is an important thing to remember. There are entirely too many jobs in the US that require a degree when really, it’s un-necessary. > > You don’t need a degree to be the manager of a retail store. > > You don’t need a degree to be a secretary/PA. > > You don’t need a degree to be a writer. As I mentioned, most of my college classmates or even most of my high school classmates who went to good colleges didn’t go to college to work in retail or as secretaries. So I guess the flip side of the question is why are so many college grads working in jobs that in the past typically did not require degrees? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-american-people-should-significantly-decrease-the-number-of-people-attending-colleges/514653)._