Monday, January 17, 2011
Is college necessary?
The relentless claims of the Obama administration and others that having more college graduates is necessary for continued economic leadership is incompatible with this view. Putting issues of student abilities aside, the growing disconnect between labor market realities and the propaganda of higher-education apologists is causing more and more people to graduate and take menial jobs or no job at all. This is even true at the doctoral and professional level—there are 5,057 janitors in the U.S. with Ph.D.’s, other doctorates, or professional degrees.
Thinking broadly is a good thing, but I really think that more craft, not more high-end science, is necessary for economic competitiveness. We already have more scientists than we know what to do with, whence the postdoctoral servility and lack of tenure.
Labels: education
