Thousands of young people will be heading, or already have headed, to college this September. About 30% of them in the USA will drop out by the end of their first year, for various reasons. Even those that remain are sometimes tortured with feelings of stress that they do not measure up, either academically or socially.

Luckily, many colleges are sensitive to this and extend helping hands. And many students do find themselves empowered, excited at their new potential, and happy to be making their way in life.

Yet, as an educator, I do sometimes feel that those 30% who do not make it must, truly, be suffering - at least some of them. It's never easy to have to give up on something. It's never easy to spend $40K or more and be disappointed.

Even though I know education is central to personal development, I wonder, sometimes:  is the present set-up the best way of educating people to be good, helpful, loving human beings? Isn't that at least one of the real aims? As our world becomes more crowded and the need for civility becomes more acute, perhaps we need to turn more attention to that?