Education seems to be reaching a pivotal moment: the rising cost and the declining enrollment in Science fields. Somehow we stopped measuring education as a nation’s responsibility. Money quote from Today’s article.  

“There was a time, not that long ago, 10 to 15 years ago, that the vast majority of the cost of education at public universities was borne by the state, and that was why tuition was so low,” he said. “That was based on the premise that the education of an individual is a public good, that individuals go out and become schoolteachers and businessmen and doctors and lawyers, that makes society better. That’s no longer the perception.” -NYT

If engineering and science  classes cost more, eventually fewer students will choose these fields. Yet, these are the exact fields that pushed America into superiority. Differential pricing by State Schools can be a measurement or indicator of America’s weakening position in the world. Why don’t we value Education more? 

“Where we have gone astray culturally,” he said, “is that we have focused almost exclusively on starting salary as an indicator of life earnings and also of the value of the particular major.” -NYT