I don't know how in blazes people manage to get a higher education these days when tuition and books can run to tens of thousands of dollars a year. They start their careers deep in debt and often have to spend decades digging their way out from under student loans.

I entered the University of Washington right out of high school in fall of 1949, and tuition there was $53 a month. I think I spent about $25 on textbooks. I went for a couple of years, majoring in English (Literature and Creative Writing), then dropped out for a couple of years. I came back in 1956, changing my major to Music, and I think tuition had gone up to around $75 a quarter. Still do-able.

In the early 1960s, I entered the Cornish School of the Arts, a sort of conservatory, where I studied Music for two years. Cornish is a private school, and tuition was around $300 a quarter.

Hell's bells, these days I couldn't even take a single course in my local community college because the tuition is so egregiously high.

In many European countries, higher education is free.

"Greatest Country in the World" my south end!! We're way to hell and gone behind the rest of the civilized world!

Don Firth