Stephan:   As I read about Republican governors gutting the budgets of their state university systems -- Brownback in Kansas, Walker in Wisconsin, Jindal in Louisiana being prominent examples -- I began to wonder what kind of higher education trend was evolving in those nations that are wellness oriented. I have already done stories about college being made tuition free, or very modestly priced, in Europe and Scandinavia. France, Germany, Norway, Denmark are explicit in explaining the reason they are doing this: Countries with an educated populace are going to be better equipped to deal with the challenges of the 21st century then countries whose populace is ignorant and uneducated. Meanwhile, as I have detailed in SR, in the United States college has become a step many very bright but poor students cannot take. And those that can go to college often leave with crushing debt. Student debt is now larger than credit card debt in the U.S. Then I came across this story which describes how Denmark is taking the next step -- paying students to get a college degree -- as a result of which their incomes will be higher, the nation's tax revenues will go up, the social safety net costs will go down, and educated adults will be a larger percentage of the population in the next generation. Why don't we see the obvious in the U.S.? The answer I think arises from two-impulses, both of which are cultural. First, our culture has become a cesspool of Randian hyper-individualism. I'm out for mine, profit is all that matters, I have no obligation to help another, nor should I be made to pay for any collective social activity. Second, Those who don't make it are failures or lazy or both, screw'um. Not my problem. As a result if children are a nation's future, our future is bleak.