I certainly don't fault people for choosing careers in the light of then-current information. I would point out, however, that "getting a good job" is only one reason for choosing that career. I would hope that "burning interest" in the field is an even more-important reason. Clearly many who choose art, writing, the ministry, social work, and a host of other fields DON'T do so to get a high-paying job.
In the case of the service engineer (in Germany) who had a PhD in physics,that engineer IS pursuing a career in physics. The knowledge that he or she brings to the job makes that person more effective, and uses the skills in that field. High-paid job and rewarding career are not necessarily the same.
I will argue that (in a relatively free society) the well-educated (as a "class")will earn substantially more than the poorly-educated.
Clearly, however, a governments obligation is to provide the framework to allow the citizens of that country to enjoy a higher standard of living, relative to other countries. To date, none of them have been able to accomplish that without exploitation (either through war or trade policies) of other countries (a zero-sum game). I don't really know how that might be done. Another reasonable objective is to simply raise the standard of living of the citizens of the country, even tough other countries "catch up", or even surpass that country (the "bigger pie" game). |
