On the Over-Application of College Degrees…

Employers, stop asking for educational credentials that you don’t need.

If you don’t absolutely NEED a four-year degree for that job posting, DON’T REQUIRE ONE.

I’ve spent time working with youth, specifically middle and high school boys. I’ve seen them panic in their last years of high school while they tried to figure out “what to do with their lives.” A lot of this panic came from nothing but the external pressures that were put upon them.

The biggest pressure: “You have to go to college, or you have failed.” Their parents were telling them this, society was telling them this, and the job market was telling them this.

This is the ideal we’ve pushed on kids for generations now, and it’s been a mistake. We’ve set up the college degree as some kind of magical gateway – the thing to which we must all inexorably move toward. It’s become a rite of passage, and the professional world has unnecessarily elevated it to a box that just has to be checked.

Due to this pre-occupation, I’ve seen a lot of kids completely flame out. They never should have gone to college; rather, they should have gone to a trade school or apprenticeship. They have a disastrous year, come home broke and in absurd amounts of debt, feeling like a failure.

(And once, I watched this exact scenario end in a horrible tragedy. I won’t go into details, but it’s exactly what you think it is.)

Why am I posting this to LinkedIn?

Because fixing this starts with employers. We’re asking for educational credentials we simply do not need, and in the process, we’re contributing to the dysfunction.

Many employers – whether they realize it or not – are using the degree requirement as a cultural filter. They want someone who will “fit in.” At some level, they’re looking for someone who’s a lot like they are, and requiring a four-year degree is a handy way to filter out people who come from different backgrounds and different circumstances.

Fact: a vast minority of jobs actually REQUIRE a college degree. There’s a heuristic in economic development called “The 7-2-1 Rule.” For every ONE job that requires a graduate degree (doctor, lawyer, etc.), there are TWO jobs that require an undergrad degree (nurse, CPA, etc.), and there are SEVEN jobs that require no degree at all.

I loved college. I have a degree, and all three of my kids have (or will have) degrees, so I am keenly aware of my own hypocrisy here. (My perspective shift on this has been recent.) And, for the record, I absolutely believe in some kind post-secondary professional education.

But that shouldn’t automatically mean a college degree. I’ve come to believe that we’re railroading a lot of kids into educational experiences (and often, disasters) they do not need and will not succeed at.

Fixing this starts with employers. We need to take the mystical halo off a four-year degree, and concentrate more on accomplishment, attitude, and the ability to learn.

Rant over. Thanks.