Politicians who have no idea how badly they have messed up higher education keep promoting new plans for it. One of the worst I have heard in quite a while is to compel students while still in high school to apply to college unless they have some definite alternative plan. That is what a bill in the New Mexico legislature would do and I discuss it in this Martin Center article.

This bill has bipartisan support, showing that Republicans and Democrats are equally clueless about the supposed need to make sure that as many young people as possible are herded into college.

What seems to bother the sponsors is that fewer young people in New Mexico are choosing college. They think that’s a problem for the state to address with coercion. But it’s not a problem — the declining numbers of people who conclude that college is worth the time and money reflects a growing realization that higher ed is often a costly mistake.

Nothing good can come of such meddling. I hope the bill gets sidetracked before it gets politicians in other states thinking, “Hey, we oughta do that too!”