First point: consider that if the only people that are smart and motivated have something to show for it, then there are vastly fewer smart, motivated poor people than there are in the middle and upper classes. Intelligence and motivation may be necessary to learning, but they are certainly not sufficent.
It's hard to say objectively whether anything is worth it. However, I don't think that hiking and paying for school are that similar - with hiking, you put the work in up front, and with school, you receive the diploma (and ostensibly the benefits of 4 years of learning) before you even have to start paying back your student loans. That said, doesn't it say something if all those who have done it say it's valuable?
In any case, I guess the fundamental issue that I see is the relationship between learning and applicable skills. Picking up skills is certainly learning, but learing is not always economically valuable. Schools do not exist to create wealth in their students - they exist to pass on knowledge. If schools are not passing on real-world skills, they are not intrinsically failing, nor is the real world somehow broken. I value learing for its own sake and am actually willing to forgo some matarial comfort for it. I suppose it all depends on your definitions of success.
I will admit that if people are going to school with no clear path and no motivation, and expecting to come out on the other side more employable, that's a problem. But again, it's a problem of expectations, not institutional reality.
It's hard to say objectively whether anything is worth it. However, I don't think that hiking and paying for school are that similar - with hiking, you put the work in up front, and with school, you receive the diploma (and ostensibly the benefits of 4 years of learning) before you even have to start paying back your student loans. That said, doesn't it say something if all those who have done it say it's valuable?
In any case, I guess the fundamental issue that I see is the relationship between learning and applicable skills. Picking up skills is certainly learning, but learing is not always economically valuable. Schools do not exist to create wealth in their students - they exist to pass on knowledge. If schools are not passing on real-world skills, they are not intrinsically failing, nor is the real world somehow broken. I value learing for its own sake and am actually willing to forgo some matarial comfort for it. I suppose it all depends on your definitions of success.
I will admit that if people are going to school with no clear path and no motivation, and expecting to come out on the other side more employable, that's a problem. But again, it's a problem of expectations, not institutional reality.