The Best Tuition is No Tuition (for Public Colleges)

Once again, somebody has replicated a core idea of Fubarnomics and made hay with it. The latest is Robert Samuels, who argues in a book and in the Chronicle of Higher Education that public colleges shouldn't charge tuition. No sh*t! What he misses (in the Chronicle anyway --  I have yet to read the book) is the notion that what we need is a GI-like bill for all young people, i.e., some way for them to earn money for college (public or private) while, well, growing up and sowing their wild seeds. No, I don't want to send all our kids to Afghanistan but rather to give them options like the Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity, National Park service, etc. They will be better students for it as they will come to the classroom with some real world experience and additional maturity. Moreover, they will have paid for their education with their sweat and so will take it more seriously than if it is just handed to them by the government, or mommy and daddy.