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Good post. When it comes to basic education with no frills the US is probably behind. However, the most elite colleges are in the US, that includes places like Harvard, MIT, etc. Only Cambridge and Oxford compete there.
Yeah, the U.S. is home to most the world's prestigious universities, but Harvard and MIT can attract the best student minds from around the world, as well as a great number of the top thinkers with doctoral degrees. My university of UW-Milwaukee accepts something like 75% or 80% of all its applicants. Harvard on the other hand rejects like 90% or 98% of all its applicants. The rejection rate is a huge factor in what makes a university "elite."
A school like Harvard also has a operating budget that makes the economy of Vatican City look tiny. UW-Milwaukee alone, as a 4th tier rated university (Harvard would be 1st tier) has an annual operating budget twice the size of Vatican City's economy of roughly $300 million.
Yep, in the USA in 1964, junior colleges in California charged no tuition for citizens of California. I was a senior in high school in Vacaville, California in the fall of 1963 and looking forward to at least two years of "free" education. Then my father, an Air Force Master Sergeant, got transferred to Vancouver, Washington where I completed my senior year.
No free tuition in Washington.
I did take a couple of quarters (Washington had a quarter system as opposed to a semester system) at Clark College (now University) in Vancouver. It wasn't free and I worked waxing floors at night and emptying trash cans during the day to cover my costs. Then I learned that I could get the GI bill and it would cover most of my educational expenses.
So I was off to exotic locations like Okinawa and Viet Nam. On Okinawa I discovered that the Far East Division of the University of Maryland offered courses at one of the bases, and I took several at a reduced rate. Viet Nam proved to be an entirely different kind of education completely unrelated to book learning.
Through my four years in the Marine Corps, I managed to save $800, and when I returned to the U.S. in 1969 it was enough for room, board, tuition, and books for one semester at a private, denominationally related college. The GI bill paid me $135 per month. Eventually, even with work-study, I had to incur some debt. But folks today would swoon to think that three years of room, board, tuition, and books averaged around $2000 per year.
The military no longer has quite the same excellent educational benefits, but it does have a matching program for those who will save and not booze their money away (as was prevalent during the Viet Nam era). Further, the first two years of education are virtually the same in any institution from Harvard to Podunk College. Get those two years as inexpensively as possible in a community college.
And these days, it may be far more financially rewarding to go to a trade school to learn heating and A/C, electrical engineering, automotive mechanics, or even plumbing. I got a wonderful liberal arts education, but I'm constantly shelling out big bucks to get qualified folks to do those things I never learned how to do.
I was an English major, sociology minor, and just three hours short of a Bible minor as well. I can write well enough, have no problem speaking to crowds, and am willing to discuss how textual criticism of the Bible we read can lead to a deeper faith for those who already HAVE faith, and not dogmatic belief. And from watching many TV evangelists, I knew I had the ability to wind folks up to give through the nose when I wanted them too. I even served at my college as the Development Vice-President (interpreted as fund raiser and student recruitment guru) for awhile.
My problem with raising funds in the name of Jesus was that I began to have a conscience about what I was doing--realizing the poor folks who gave $200 or less really couldn't afford it, and far too many of the folks who could give $10,000 or more with no sweat wanted to know what was in it for them---could they get their name on a plaque or mentioned in the school paper, or, if a politician, get to speak before the student body. So I became increasingly disgruntled with what the "prosperity" game in religion is primarily about.
Are there some who give with altruistic motives? Of course! And for every one I could find like that, I found a couple of score of others who were looking for payback not just in the next world, but in this one as well.
There was a reason Jesus said that it is more difficult for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.
Jesus never promised his followers would be rich. If someone tells you that they're either deceived or they're lying to you.
My life is a testament to that. But if you're Christ's, you're also the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:29) - and look at what God's covenant with him did for him and Sarah.
Riches - the king and priest (Melchizedek) even tithed to him. He was wealthy.
Fountain of youth - Sarah was hot in her '80s (taken in 2 different harems by unbelievers) and gave birth to Isaac at 90.
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Free college in the U.S.
