Bills like H.B. 265 and H.B. 260 demand that higher education institutions reallocate funding toward high-demand certificate programs while slashing or eliminating funding for so-called “low-value” courses, which often end up being humanities and general education courses. Such a shift seems natural as more jobs present a way to fulfill a short-term economic need. So this doesn’t just seem promising for employers, but also for employees. After all, who doesn’t want education to lead to a good job? But beneath the surface lies a severe misunderstanding of what education is for and why societies invest in it at all.

What these bills don’t take into account is that education is not merely about fitting students into today’s labor market. It is about preparing individuals for life in a free, complex, and unpredictable society. It’s about building critical thinkers who can solve unfamiliar problems and resist being manipulated by simplistic answers or authoritarian instincts. For centuries, not having the ability to become information literate was what kept entire societies in captivity. In feudal societies, any formal education for lower classes consisted of an apprenticeship with an individual in their desired field and nothing else. This way, individuals could learn the technical skills required for a job and not need to expand their knowledge or understanding of the world. It is this thinking that allows societies to be prone to oppression and manipulation. What these bills are doing is essentially what society has come a long way to get away from: narrowing education to a set of technical skills. By doing this, we are training students to think less, and in our world of ever-advancing technology, it is exactly this kind of procedure that can be replaced by a machine.

General education requirements (the supposedly expendable courses) are not just introductory glimpses into unrelated careers. They are the training ground for vital human abilities: communication, critical analysis, ethical reasoning, and collaboration across differences. All these are essential to becoming a functioning, unique citizen. These courses should teach students how to learn, how to question, and how to reframe challenges creatively. They are survival skills in an economy and society shaped by constant change. It is a shame that these critical life skills are now seen as a waste of time and money by so many students and legislators.

Of course, Utah is right about one thing: higher education needs reform. I’m no stranger to boring, seemingly unrelated, and irrelevant classes. The common sentiment among many students is that general education requirements are little more than hurdles to jump over on the way to a degree. The solution, however, is not to throw general education away. Every class, no matter the subject, should be a vehicle for teaching transferable skills. Instead of treating general education like a jumbled mess of disconnected classes, they should all be used as a vessel through which valuable life skills are taught and learned, giving them a sense of purpose and a common goal.

Some might argue that certificates and specialized programs offer a faster, cheaper path to employment than a broad-based education. And for some students, in certain fields, they do. But betting the entire future of higher education on this model ignores a simple truth: the fastest skills to teach are also the fastest skills to automate. A workforce trained only for today’s high-demand jobs is a workforce vulnerable to tomorrow’s disruption. So, if we want to create legislation that considers the long-term future of our society and economy, we absolutely cannot make this the foundation of our higher education institutions.

If Utah continues down this path, it may find that it has created perfectly prepared graduates for obsolescence.

In chasing efficiency, we risk forgetting what education is supposed to do: make us human, not mechanical. If there is an education issue, it certainly isn’t because we teach too much critical thinking and problem solving.

More and more people continue to care less and less about education, and this needs to stop. It is an important part of becoming a citizen. Become involved in decisions about your education and show that you care about the future.

Let’s not let our schools turn us into robots.

Luca Rogers

Northern Utah Academy for Math Engineering and Science

Layton