House of Eratosthenes

Having spent a lifetime holding down jobs that are supposed to demand a college degree, while not having any formal education beyond high school, I’m still undecided about whether I possess experience here that should be shared. Maybe I should take the lead, maybe I should keep my mouth shut. I see a lot of evidence for both of those viewpoints.

Oh well, you know this guy knows what he’s talking about.

Get ready for some unpleasant surprises.

The general requirements of the first two years at most colleges are what high school should have been. That is what junior should have learned had he not been busy getting high, getting drunk, and being socially promoted.

Better high schools frequently use the same textbooks for the mandatory requirements that are used in the first two years of college. If a high school draws from the upper end of the socioeconomic scale, the courses will be more demanding than the first two years of most colleges.

Although it is fashionable to talk of our strength being our diversity, it is simply not true when teaching in a college classroom. Teachers have to teach to some middle ground, and that middle ground is going to be higher in an upper-tier high school. A classroom that draws from a wide swath of socioeconomic groups is going to have people of vastly different preparation and skill levels.

You might ask: What about admissions requirements? Aren’t these students qualified to do college work? Absolutely not! Advertised admissions requirements, save for the best institutions, are meaningless. Even in the best institutions, admissions requirements are highly suspect, given the imperative to produce a diverse student body. Advertised standards are what colleges would like their student body to look like. At many institutions, roughly twenty-five percent of students fail to meet published admissions standards.

Public colleges get reimbursed on a head count basis, so taking in more students for unused space means more revenue. In addition, every out-of-state student provides nearly twice the revenue. If your child has a mediocre academic record, have him apply to an out-of-state public college or university. You can experience the joy of paying out-of-state tuition, while still retaining the bragging rights so vital to sending your kid to college.

This is a rather old complaint, but I’ve noticed a subtly different thing going on lately which is a testament to things rounding a sharp corner right about now. I am referring here to the job requirements end of things. Simply put, in the recent years past I am absolutely flabbergasted at the rather humble positions out there that are popularly thought to require a college degree.

That lady in the restaurant who finds you your table and then goes and tells a waiter you’re ready to place your order — we’re not there quite yet. And no offense intended for restaurant hostesses, but if your position does not require a college degree, well, I think for the time being that’s appropriate. Nevertheless. I do expect that to change any year now the way things are going.

It’s like the requirement is applied, or at least some loudmouth is saying it should apply, to any job in which the successful applicant is going to be expected to read.

Nobody questions it. But someone should make an issue out of it, if for no other reason, than to sound the alarm bells about what employers do & do not recognize in high school graduation requirements. The implication, obviously, is that high school graduates can’t be relied-upon to know how to read. Is there some distance between that supposition, and what is really happening?

I hope so. But I don’t think so.

I work at a small specialty chemical company. Most of the demanding production jobs require someone who can solve problems, plan, and work unsupervised. That’s it. We can teach you the rest, like don’t stick your hands in nitric acid, and don’t huff the acetone. Yet we strongly prefer college degrees for even the most repetitive and “lower tier” positions.

Some of our best employees have been those with some or no college experience. I cannot understand how management can’t figure out that if you hire people for $10-12/hour jobs, you will get much better employees with blue-collar types, who at least know how to show up and do something consistently, than college graduates who couldn’t get a better paying job.

Part of this has to do with the confusion over scientists and technicians. I may have a degree in chemistry, but I haven’t used it in the last 20 years, because I’m a technician, and a good one.
- chunt31854 | 06/16/2009 @ 09:11
I hadn’t thought of that. “Diversity” is just another word for inefficiency.

And as long as the government is forcing taxpayers to distort the cost/benefit analysis, our schools are increasingly inefficient. That’s the bad thing about when the government decides some vague word is a “good” thing. It will be subsidized beyond any benefit.
- JohnJ | 06/16/2009 @ 09:36
I think we’re seeing creeping credentialism at work here too. I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and worked as a chemist for most of my career, and between 1963 when I started working and 2008 when I retired, I saw the educational requirements for most chemist jobs slowly trend upward. I believe that this is a means for hr departments to easily winnow job applicants. So you offered a job and think you’ll get three hundred responses? Easy, just require applicants to have their master’s. But now more guys are staying in school longer. Well, require them to have their doctor’s. That’ll keep the number of applicants down. Pretty soon you’ll need post-doctoral experience to do routine quality control work.
- vvp39 | 06/16/2009 @ 17:41
In 1985, when I was in high school, I worked as a cook at Pizza Hut. I made just over minimum wage for a position that didn’t require any special knowledge.
I was told that there was a requirement for a college degree if you applied for any supervisory position.
A shift supervisor had to have at least an associates degree. They didn’t care what it was in.
That position didn’t require much more knowledge than I had at the time. Just some basic math, organizational skills, and a little maturity. (I’ll admit, I lacked that, too.)
20yrs later, I still don’t have my degree, but I have practical work experience and make over 50k a yr doing technical work for an engineering firm. (and I get respect from the engineers who I support)
That Pizza Hut is closed now.
- DanB | 06/17/2009 @ 00:36
Money quote for me: A student in the sciences or engineering could not remotely do this…

Yeah, my physics and engineering professors wouldn’t thought twice about flunking me over crap like this.
- Physics Geek | 06/17/2009 @ 16:06

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The Realities of College EducationTuesday, June 16th, 2009

The Realities of College Education
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009