Downsizing academia

If we manage to transition to a post-oil economy, many teachers will be out of jobs, since no one (including the government) will be able to afford to pay for most of them. Universal secondary education may no longer be possible--and certainly universal college education not at all. All of the useless studies will fall on the wayside, and those secondary schools that survive will have to streamline themselves and focus on the basics. Nonetheless, a Catholic school, aware of its tradition, is in a good position to continue passing on our intellectual heritage--one does not need to read up on the latest scholarship in science, history, and so on, to have a basic foundation in natural philosophy, for example, one that affirms the existence of God rather than blindly denying Him. As for history--if local communities can be restored, one will be less concerned with the history of giant nation-states (though this may still be valuable, if such links are consciously maintained, but how many people care about their Anglo-Saxon or French or Italian or Germany identity?), and perhaps the American project itself can be evaluated with new eyes.