> Curricula don't have to be easier if you have a large student body, and graduation requirements don't have to be lower.
Only if everyone became a lot more skilled than their grades imply.
Academic achievement is not be a perfect measure, but if you go from the top 3.4% of the population to the top 50%, the only possible situations are:
1) everyone is doing a lot better at school now
2) graduation rate goes down
3) standards go down
Or some combination of those.
That doesn’t mean there is no benefit in getting half the country to spend three more years in education, just that nobody should expect 18.7 times * as many of whatever made you want to get half the population into university in the first place.
Only if everyone became a lot more skilled than their grades imply.
Academic achievement is not be a perfect measure, but if you go from the top 3.4% of the population to the top 50%, the only possible situations are:
1) everyone is doing a lot better at school now
2) graduation rate goes down
3) standards go down
Or some combination of those.
That doesn’t mean there is no benefit in getting half the country to spend three more years in education, just that nobody should expect 18.7 times * as many of whatever made you want to get half the population into university in the first place.
* population growth too.