Overeducated...

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Johnny1A

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Sep 29, 2017, 12:30:20 AM9/29/17

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Megan McArdle writes an interesting article on the subject of post-collegiate education:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-27/it-shouldn-t-be-so-easy-to-go-to-grad-school

There are several interesting points in here, but one particularly interesting one:

As long as those degrees bring a big income boost, that’s fine. But there’s a troubling wrinkle: The proliferation of master’s degrees may simply allow employers to demand an advanced degree for jobs that used to be open only to candidates with a bachelor's degree.

This is more or less what happened with the baccalaureate. As bachelor's degrees became more and more common, they started being treated as a minimum requirement for all sorts of jobs and careers that frankly don't need them. But without the degree, the job-seeker can't even get in the door.

This is a basic issue. For years, the standard talking point in dealing with the social and economic problems was 'education education education', a mantra repeated over and over. But that ignores the details, and there are a number of demonic entities hiding in the details. It's not quite true to say that education has become a scam, but it's probably fair to say that it's verging on being a racket.

Johan Larson

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Sep 29, 2017, 6:42:31 AM9/29/17

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Yes, a college education costs more than ever:

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/price-changes-in-consumer-goods-and-services-in-the-usa-1997-2017

And the actual education bits are increasingly being done not by actual scholars but by adjunct instructors who are paid by the class at starvation rates.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/28/adjunct-professors-homeless-sex-work-academia-poverty

And the student body at third-tier schools is often just plain not ready for traditional college classes.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-cal-state-remedial-requirements-20170803-story.html

So, colleges are charging more than ever, and offering an increasingly debased product, to people who aren't able to do the work. Lovely industry, really.

I think the questions worth asking:

a) How long can this go on?

b) When it can't, what will happen?

Interestingly, some top companies have dropped their requirements for a college degree.