VOCATIONAL EDUCATION goes to college.

What used to be a classical liberal education has morphed into a non-classical 'woke' education which utterly destroyed its present value. A classical liberal education was --and remains -- valuable to those who could afford the price of graduating without an immediately valuable economic skill. For example, our Founders, almost without exception, were classically educated, learned little of immediate economic benefit to themselves and yet that knowlege gave us our founding documents

It was the Morrill Act, the ability to gain immediately useful economic skills beyond those available through secondary education, that allowed me to go to college. And the added advantage was that I had access to at least some of that classic liberal education in terms of the elective requirements at that time.

But no more. Even in the hard sciences (mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry, etc.) liberal 'wokeness' has infected their curriculum.

[But] there is evidence that hope exists. Findings from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reveal that college enrollment “dropped by more than 2 million from 2011 to 2019” before the pandemic. In 2020 alone, undergraduate enrollment fell 4.5 percent—the largest decline in several decades.

Could it be that young people have been wildly oversold on the importance of a bachelor’s degree? With welders now earning $150,000 annually and free of student debt, a day of reckoning may be on the horizon. Perhaps more and more students will see that a two-year technical program or trade school is a more rewarding path.

I rather suspect that Mike Rowe's television shows 'Dirty Jobs' and 'How America Works' will help make that so.

Two final notes: First, classical liberal education -- what I tend to call a Great Books of the Western World education -- is available online for those interested in the topics and not caring about being 'credentialed'.

And second, now that I'm retired and moved outside the urban and engineering 'bubbles' I used to inhabit, I'm heartened to find that the tradespeople (see Mike Rowe above) I deal with on a regular basis are much more knowledgeable (and capable) than the average 'credentialed' Harvard graduate.

DAY BY DAY nails it:

The cartoon is here.

EXCLUSIVE FROM AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: Biden's list of potential SCOTUS nominees.

Surprisingly, they're not all black women.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Every time I hear or see the word 'expert' I'm reminded that its definition is a 'has-been drip (under pressure)'.

DENNIS PRAGER EXPLAINS why the masked and unmasked have disdain for each other.

POWERLINE has more 'loose ends' to consider.

I didn't know potholders were racist.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Savor the Democrats' humiliation.

COVID-19 HAS INFECTED ABOUT 20% OF AMERICANS, but the true percentage likely higher.

Let's be honest about this. As infectious as it's claimed to be, after over two years it is virtually certain that every American not isolated on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean has been exposed multiple times. That so many -- perhaps as many as 80% -- haven't been infected says something important.

And that is that normal healthy humans don't infect easily.

OBVIOUS ANSWER, NO: "Are we any better off on these three issues that we crucified Trump over?"

WHARTON STUDENTS reveal the disconnect between elite college kids and reality.

I asked Wharton students what they thought the average American worker makes per year and 25% of them thought it was over six figures. One of them thought it was $800k. Really not sure what to make of this (The real number is $45k).
— Nina Strohminger

Yes, really.

THE COMMONSENSE CASE for right to repair.

It's gotten so bad that my new car warranties can be canceled if I don't buy their company branded oil (yes, oil!) and oil filter to change the oil in my cars.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN 'TALENT IS OVERRATED'? You get the talent desert that is the modern Democrat party.