Study hard, kids, and it’ll pay off in later life. Or so we always heard. Now, though, with collegiate debt outweighing regular credit card debt and unemployment rampant among young people, you have to wonder. What’s a first-class education for, anyway? To equip us for more lucrative careers, or make us better-rounded, wiser people? Tough times even have some questioning the amount of tax support going to public schools – although we can’t win in the global marketplace without well-educated young workers. While American schooling remains the envy of the world, it takes increasingly big money.