College Degrees May Decline in Value

George Leef at Phi Beta Cons has a couple of explnations:

One reason:

as competition for college-educated employees increases, companies will become more and more motivated to use those without college degrees effectively in the workforce, in jobs that today would routinely require a diploma-in-hand as the price of admission. They will come to screen candidates in different ways, searching, perhaps, for the Simon Cowells among them: those who are bright, motivated, and will make them money.

Another reason: "a perception that at least parts of today's college education are actually not particularly relevant may pervade more and more young people's (and older employers') consciousness."

For at least a couple of decades, people have preached at high school kids the importance of a college education to getting a good job. But really, the college education has diminished in its core purpose, that of actually providing a broad education. Instead colleges have become finishing schools for political posturing in some areas social sciences and "liberal" arts) and a trade school in others (engineering and computer "science"). Of course, employers looking to hire smart motivate high schools may likewise be dismayed at the poor quality of a high school diploma as a sign of employability.