It’s Simply Red Herring The main article of this book is that higher education, generally, has become in many ways and for many people, a kind of very expensive extended playpen, a place to stash young people who society deems not ready for the workforce but too unmanageable to keep at home. According to Bird, college is a place for young people to simmer a bit, to age. Bird makes a case that people learn little in the way of substantial and useful information and skills, but mainly bide their time until they can get a degree that helps them get a job, whereupon they begin to learn what they really need to know. Meantime, colleges are in