Why should "education" cost money?

[GreatGazoo]

6. Not defending it at all. I think college should be completely redesigned

since it is still based on going to large lecture halls where stuff is written on a board and you copy it -- the same system they used before electric lighting.

An easier and more valid way to credential people would be to allow people to sign up for say, a proctored exam and then have that credentialing available when they approach employers. In other words maybe there is a fee for the test but how you prepare for the test is up to you. I think they do something similar to this in France.

Before college, education is a shared benefit. It is in the interest of all that we have a populace which understands basic concepts of math, science, language and our checkered history. Basic education should remain free and mandatory of course, but college in 2015 is a debt factory, badly in need of an update, cost reduction and re-alignment with the future job market.

In the bigger picture we see that GDP includes suffering, waste, prisons and all kinds of things that would be best if they were limited. Instead they all count the same in GDP; efficiency is punished, waste and excess is encouraged, environmental destruction puts points on the board in terms of GDP. Rebuilding after a hurricane scores more GDP points than better preparing for one, the more destruction, the more GDP. The same people who complain that free college would be "free stuff" seem to have no complaints about the government subsidizing junk foods which create lifelong health problems. Banksters have no problem with government programs that help people buy their first house. The targets seem to be things which compete with or preclude private businesses, or things which would keep people out of debt (or additional debt).