This is by Liam Julian of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation:
Yes, it’s increasingly difficult to land a good job without a college diploma. But that’s not because college is an educational panacea; it’s because high schools are such educational wastelands. Almost anyone has the academic ability to graduate high school with ease. A recent Gates Foundation report
Quite right. When employers insist on a college degree for simple, entry-level jobs, as is more and more common, it’s not a testament to the great, mind-enhancing qualities of the typical college curriculum, but rather it’s a no-confidence vote regarding the average high school education. That’s too bad. It means that a lot of young people are shut out from having a chance at work they could easily learn to do simply because they don’t have an expensive piece of paper attesting to the fact that they accumulated a certain number of college credits.