In December, for example, Biden pitched a college degree as a vital marker of status while downplaying trade schools and private-sector education.
A college degree “is about dignity, a sense of yourself, this notion of self worth, your standing in the community … it’s about becoming a better man and better woman,” Biden said to a roomful of parents and students. It’s about a person’s “social acceptability … the sense of your self worth and accomplishment. … A college education is almost a prerequisite to the middle class,” he said.
“The guys on the other side are very mad at us,” he told the crowd. “They’re telling us, ‘You’re giving away money … [but] they don’t have any trouble giving away money to some people if they’re wealthy enough.”
“There is no higher priority in our administration” than education, he said, prompting applause from the voters in the school auditorium.
