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 that surveyed dropouts found 88 percent of them had passing grades before they quit. These dropouts didn’t stop attending class because they struggled with coursework. Most stopped attending class because they were bored with their default high school curricula.

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.