evidence: The most basic problem facing higher education today is the plummeting value of the bachelor’s degree. Undergraduate students face increasing tuition costs—often covered by sizeable student loans—to earn degrees that in many cases no longer provide any advantage on the job market. This is basic economics: more demand (for access to college) leads to higher prices (tuition), while greater supply (of college graduates) leads to declining prices (in postcollege salaries). The fall in market value also corresponds to a decline in the quality of education, as professors often rubber-stamp students through courses, chipping away at the value signal degrees are supposed to convey. [...] There are many factors contributing to the college problem, but I chose not to begin this series with the policy or political issues that dominate the conversation because the cultural factor is the one that people are most often blind to. This is not true for everyone, and much of the interest in the college problem is driven by a growing recognition that the conventional wisdom of the twentieth century doesn’t work for the twenty-first. Nonetheless, these ideals remain powerful, despite the poor outcomes they often lead to, and even the soundest policy reforms will have little effect on cultural failings.