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For Businesses, the College Degree Is the New High School Diploma
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that a college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement for getting even the lowest-level job. Many jobs that didn't require a diploma years ago — positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters — increasingly requiring a college degree. From the point of view of business, with so many people going to college now, those who do not graduate are often assumed to be unambitious or less capable. 'When you get 800 résumés for every job ad, you need to weed them out somehow,' says Suzanne Manzagol. A study by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce found that more than 2.2 million jobs that require a minimum of a bachelor's degree have been created (PDF) since the 2007 start of the recession. At the same time, jobs that require only a high school diploma have decreased by 5.8 million in that same time. 'It is a tough job market for college graduates but far worse for those without a college education,' says Anthony P. Carnevale, co-author of the report. 'At a time when more and more people are debating the value of post-secondary education, this data shows that your chances of being unemployed increase dramatically without a college degree.' Even if they are not exactly applying the knowledge they gained in their political science, finance and fashion marketing classes, young graduates say they are grateful for even the rotest of rote office work they have been given. 'It sure beats washing cars,' says Georgia State University graduate Landon Crider, 24, an in-house courier who, for $10 an hour, ferries documents back and forth between the courthouse and his company's office."
the real value of a degree is the signal it sends
Very true!
you are someone who at least can stick to something long enough to finish it.
That is not the message a modern degree sends.
The modern degree sends a message that you are a herd animal, to the point that you will stay with the herd even to the point of your own financial ruin.
There's no question that to some companies a docile herd animal with no instincts for self-preservation is a valuable resource.
Oh, BS. What's the matter, couldn't you make it through college and get a degree. Sounds a lot like sour grapes to me.
So let me get this straight... you don't have time to read through 200+ resumes for each of the 5 open positions that you have, but you have time to read and post comments on slash dot?
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.