“It should be obvious that the future of our economy does not lie in manufacturing, but in services.”

Some reasons that the labor force growth of services has outpaced that of agriculture and industry are it is difficult to automate, college education (which has greatly increased in cost) is not normally required, and services are locally required (can’t be imported).

“You don’t need a PhD to perform economically valuable services. You do need a high school diploma, and a bachelor’s degree would be even better. That’s why we need to make tertiary education a universal standard for all Americans. That means making it free.”

There are many services jobs associated with maintenance and repair that don’t benefit from a bachelor’s degree: lawn/yard services; roof damage repair; flooded home cleanup; automotive preventive maintenance and repair; house and deck painting; carpet cleaning; plumbing repair; HVAC preventive maintenance and repair; home appliance repair; business equipment repair (computers, printers, copiers, cash registers); irrigation system repair; security system repair; and telephone system repair are some of the many. For most of the above, trade schooling would be more beneficial than college education and much less expensive. There is no such thing as free education. I assume that you mean no cost to the student. That will increase the demand and increase the taxpayer burden. I oppose federal taxes funding education. If the states want to fund education it is their choice.

“We break down all the other occupations into a wide range of specialties utilizing people with a wide range of skills and experience. Why can’t we do the same with education?”

It’s already being done. The percentage of support staff vs teachers continues to increase. Thankfully, resource officers responsible for safety and crime prevention have been added.