Barry, in the U.S. we have loan forgiveness programs for public sector work. A few of the law students I went to school with started a non-profit and receive a huge loan reduction credit for running it.
HERE's an example. This was started by a guy one year behind me in law school.
As well, my firm just introduced a public service one-year program. The first person to enter it will be graduating law school this year, and then going to work in legal aid for one year, while retaining her guaranteed place in the firm thereafter.
In other words, there are ways to address your concerns.
I am not trying to "make" it a commodity. School has value and costs money. It should be paid for by those who benefit from it, not society as a whole -- it's that simple.
Now, Skunk or someone mentioned discouraging people from going to graduate school for the arts or some other more low-paying jobs. Well, very true. I chose law school over graduate school in English for one reason -- $$$$$$. However, that was my decision. I could have toughed it out through graduate school and then tried to eek out a living.
Ultimately, though, you've got to recognize there are Many well-paying jobs in the arts -- from being a professor to owning an art gallery to painting to writing for TSR. There are simply FEWER good jobs than people seeking them. That means some markets are Flooded. Accordingly, we should let the natural economic process discourage people from those jobs. If there are just simply too many frikkin writers out there, you've made a bad decision if you enter that field of work, regardless of how your heartstrings may tug at you.
[EDIT] I saw Blair defending this on "Questions" the other night -- and he defended his position quite well. What is it about his plan that bothers you guys? If I understand it correctly, his plan involves no up front money for students.
Now, I realize there was a gentleman's agreement not to even consider the topic, and I understand he broke that (and I'd like to know why if any of you know), but his plan sounds pretty good. He claims that currently up-front costs discourage some poor students, which sounds true.
[ 01-27-2004, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]