No Jobs Without College as Employers Treat Degree as a Minimum

U.S. News and World Report ^ | March 27, 2009 | Richard Whitmire

[reaganaut1]

...

Obama didn't come right out and say it, but the message is clear: College has become the new high school. Soon after my St. Louis trip I called Enterprise and learned that with a few exceptions for military it hires only college graduates for Lyndsay's position. The ability to multitask and communicate with customers, skills that years ago high schools supplied, are now found almost solely among those with two- or four-year degrees.

To hammer that reality home to high school students, states such as Kentucky and Michigan have moved to raise minimum dropout ages. If you don't make it through high school you've got no chance of acquiring the post-high school credentialing demanded by jobs of the future.

But, as a recent report by the Lumina Foundation summed up, "College attainment rates are rising in almost every industrialized or post-industrialized country in the world, except for the U.S." Lumina's point was the same as Obama's: Eventually, our flat education levels will hurt our international economic competitiveness.

That's true, but it doesn't quite capture the whole picture. Lyndsay renting me a car isn't helping our international competitiveness. Whether your bank teller has a high school degree or a Ph.D. says little about international competitiveness, but it says a lot about economic survival, which is what high school students should care about.

The college-as-high school phenomenon is picking up speed during the recession, with employers having their pick of better-educated workers. A recent Denver Post article captured that nicely: "If I had a light labor job, I'd have a Ph.D. do it," explained a Denver employment agency staffer who had just hired two people with B.A.s to pick up sticks from sidewalks.

[reaganaut1]

The title is an exaggeration, of course, since most high-school graduates are not unemployed. But I think it does point to a worrisome trend. As Americans live longer they will need to spend more years working, but I think it would be less painful to have more 18-year-olds in the work force than 70-year-olds.

[downwdims]

We need machinists, nurses, and other skilled/technical disciplines more than college graduates. The workforce is overpopulated with college graduates with little to no skills

[ClearCase_guy]

A direct result of the quality of public education (up through High School) given to us by the Democrats and the teachers unions. Too many kids with HS degrees can't speak their own native language, do simple aruthmetic, or write a check.

But perhaps with additional government intervention, and a sharp infusion of funds, we can make the situation better! [/s]

[downwdims]

USN&R is a College shill magazine. Seriously, I’m trying to figure out why to go back to college (Vet, have access to the new GI bill), and I can’t come up with a reason to do so. I can come up with a list of technical courses and certs that are valuable, but no B.S.’s

[ryan71]

Forget hiring a deadhead socialist college graduate.

Hire a military veteran.

[caver]

“The workforce is overpopulated with college graduates with little to no skills”

This is true. I’ve seen quite a few 22 year old college graduates that have never held a job. They are completely helpless and mostly worthless. An education and skills are two different things.

[Melchior]

The attempt to ignore the bell curve and the fact that some people are not intellectually equipped for high school, let alone college, has as pernicious an effect on society as the belief that owning a house is a right rather than a responsibility.

[TSgt]

I’m interviewing 3 candidates today for a position and I trashed any resumes of those who applied for the job that did not have a college degree. It took me 8 years, two jobs and military service to get through college but I finished it. If I can do it then anyone can do it.

That said, not everyone goes to college and we need jobs for people who don’t. The problem is that both ends of the middle class are being eaten away by illegal Hispanic immigrants or H1B visa holders. The rest of the jobs don’t pay a living wage or are being offshored.

At the rate we are going all we will have left is the unqualified or the overqualified...

[ryan71]

College grad:
Can I wipe my ass now?
Everybody else’s fault
How many sick days do I get?
What do you want me to do?
It can't be done

Military veteran:
Self starter
Team player
Committed
Leader
Improviser

[shorty_harris]

We need machinists, nurses, and other skilled/technical disciplines more than college graduates. The workforce is overpopulated with college graduates with little to no skills

Exactly! I don't have a college degree, but I have technical skills that are in high demand (at least for now!). I have more work than I can handle through my part-time consulting business. Of course, I'm fairly literate, can communicate pretty effectively, and most importantly, I can sell myself.

[Dallas59]

Companies are looking more now than ever for that “magical” employee. One that will somehow turn everything around and work for nothing....IF that company has the guts to hire anyone FULL TIME. No longer do you just walk in and talk to an HR person. A minimum of two interviews conducted by a committee of two or more persons over a period of several days. Even temps go through this.

Companies are afraid to just hire and if it doesn’t work out, fire anyone.

[Liberty1970]

USN&R is a College shill magazine. Seriously, I’m trying to figure out why to go back to college (Vet, have access to the new GI bill), and I can’t come up with a reason to do so. I can come up with a list of technical courses and certs that are valuable, but no B.S.’s

Exactly. I have an engineering degree, but my certifications as a quality engineer and (in past years) quality auditor are what matters and are much more relevant.

[downwdims]

Selling yourself is the key thing. Seriously. This is what I know, this is what I can do for you, this is how I can make money for you

[Liberty1970]

This is true. I’ve seen quite a few 22 year old college graduates that have never held a job. They are completely helpless and mostly worthless. An education and skills are two different things.

That's pretty much where I was when I graduated. Homeschoolers have some good ideas about post-highschool education and job training, and I hope the business world and society at large begin to take note. If I were a business owner I'd be heavily recruiting from homeschool ranks and ditching the worthless college grad population.

I've noticed recent college grads have a lot of "adjusting" to do to fit into a mature workforce that isn't into partying and stupid antics. It's not just about maturity, it's about their basic expectations and work ethic (not to mention their whiny attitude.)

[achilles2000]

Most homeschoolers are doing one or both of two things - starting their own businesses and/or shaving 2 or more years off of college by KLEPing out of courses or taking dual credit courses so that at 18 they start college more or less as Juniors.

[PapaBear3625]

A big part of it is that employers are not allowed to have prospective employees take tests to measure their literacy and math skills. It used to be that employers could take people just of of high school, test them, and on the basis of such tests decide if they should hire them and where to place them.

Since the 1971 Griggs vs Duke Power Supreme court decision, it is illegal to have such a test if it results in fewer minorities passing than whites.

[Mac from Cleveland]

Here’s a list of people who do/did not have a college degree—good call—keep failures like these from messing up our society:

Abraham Lincoln

George Washington

William Shakespeare

Samuel Johnson

Clarence Darrow

Patrick Henry

Chuck Yeager

Ernest Hemingway

William Faulkner

Benjamin Franklin

Rush Limbaugh

Walter Cronkite

Mark Steyn

Wilbur and Orville Wright

G.K.Chesterton

Eric Hoffer

Harry Truman

Billy Wilder

Alfred Hitchcock

Harper Lee

Edith Wharton

John O’Hara

Harold Ross (founder of the New Yorker)

John Cheever

James Thurber

Noel Coward

Dorothy Parker

Bill Gates and Paul Allen (Microsoft)

Larry Ellison

Jane Austen

Thos. J Watson Sr (founder of IBM)

Thomas Edison

Henry Ford, Sr.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

David Geffen

Alex Haley

Walt Disney

Frank Lloyd Wright

Alexander Graham Bell

Michael Dell

Ted Turner

Steven Jobs

Eleanor Roosevelt

John D. Rockefeller

David Sarnoff (founder of NBC)

R. Buckminster Fuller

Steven Spielberg

John Steinbeck

Peter Jennings

Truman Capote

John Mackey (founder of Whole Foods)

[Oldpuppymax]

Ah, yes. The next MSM crusade—free college for everyone! After all, it’s for the “greater good!!”

[Uncle Miltie]

Since High School graduates in most of the country can’t read, a College Degree does help ensure literacy.

[edh]

“USN&R is a College shill magazine. Seriously, I’m trying to figure out why to go back to college (Vet, have access to the new GI bill), and I can’t come up with a reason to do so. I can come up with a list of technical courses and certs that are valuable, but no B.S.’s”

Just a suggestion here...since it seems you might have an interest in computers in general, you might want to check out Computer Engineering as a BS major. Basically think EE but more of your requirements/electives are going to be more “hands on” than theory (mostly digital stuff in the hardware world + lots of programming in the SW world).

Don’t let the math requirements scare you :-)! You’re a vet (thank you) and I’m quite sure you can make it through that stuff :-)!

For the liberal arts requirements, you might want to minor in a second language as that’s a lot more useful than silly courses on how to wash your cat and feel good about it :-)!

If you want more info, feel free to ping me :-)!