There are four distinct concepts at play;

- Innate capability, as intelligence, drive etc

- Access, in terms of money and background culture

- Accumulated capability, as education or training

- Credentials, certificates

Two are input conditions, two are outputs.

Some people are born smart, but they choose not to go to university.
Or they live in a culture where it's unnecessary. They thrive as
autodidacts. Or they are lone wolves who can accumulate capability on
their own much better.

Others are born smart but they have no access, no family money, no
grants or loans, or they live in a culture that frowns on class
mobility. If they are lucky they can self-teach anyway or find
mentors. If they are unlucky they are sadly wasted. That's a lot of
people in the world, because IQ and global intelligence has been
steadily rising.

Some people are born dumb as a brick, but they have family who insist,
and pay for them to attend. Or they live in a culture that shoehorns
everyone through university as a matter of course, or as a holding pen
for youth.

The outputs of formal education likewise vary. Some really smart
people go to university and fail. Some universities are
awful. Students come out lacking the piece of paper their parents and
gatekeepers want.

And of course there are some really dumb people should never have gone
to university, but they were sold it, or pushed, and their failure is
a real knock-back in life. I've seen university destroy many young
people. It's a fucking tragedy and I absolutely blame the extractive
wannabe culture of education as a cosmetic product.

Some cognitively challenged people manage to cheat and weasel their way through
obtaining a degree certificate. Maybe they're not so dumb huh, because
they learn guile and corruption necessary for modern life.

Regardless the credentials, some people may or may not obtain an
actual education while at university. The space, free time, the
library, access to smart professors... these are all opportunities to
blossom. Some, at the lower ranking universities, merely get parochial
training, which expires within a year and they need to "retrain". In
this way education is a great racket.

Some people follow the path of enlightenment. They really do start out
quite intellectually weak, but while at university they find
themselves, study hard, become well educated and smarter as they
"learn how to learn" and the value of knowledge and
self-discipline. For them, university is the making of them.

Some even follow this path and realise late in the game that the
certificate isn't worth waiting for, so they jump off and start life
early. I believe Messrs. Gates and Zuckerberg fall into this group.

Anyway, in 30 years as a visiting professor I've seen all of these
things and more. Higher education varies around the world, as do the
cultures that set the value and desirability of HE.

The problem is that western universities have become
degenerate. They've been taken over by a toxic culture of financialism
and professional management and are no longer fit places for teaching,
learning and research. They fall into the GIGO taxonomy, as degree
mills where you pay £20,000 or whatever, and you damn well expect a
degree. And if you don't get one then sue.

And to be honest, in the UK that's most of them now, not just the
provincials but the Russell Groups too. The only reason to go is for
the networking and certificate and that requires a gatekeeper culture
to keep up its value - one which is rapidly crumbling.

When people ask me now, "Is it worth getting a degree?", I have to be
very sceptical. What do you really want to do in life and what sort of
person are you?, those are the more important questions.