dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) (08/12/85)
In article <290@ubvax.UUCP> tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) writes: >A popular modern theory of education is that education sorts people >by educational credentials, keeps accounting of these credentials, >and helps to ensure that the supply of credentials more-or-less >matches the demand for credentials by adjusting educational standards >appropriately. Personally, I like this theory. I think it sums >up all that education can be observed to do. When I graduated from university I looked at the want ads trying to figure out what my employment prospects were like. They didn't look good. One ad I saw was a classic; I wish I had clipped it out and kept it. The company that placed the ad wanted somebody with a university degree in Computer Science and a minimum of 3 years experience, on an IBM 4300 series machine (nothing else would do), programming in -- brace yourself -- BASIC. 3 years experience to work in BASIC. Feh. Mind you, this was an extreme case. But I couldn't get over the impression that most of the jobs that required a bachelor's degree could be done by somebody just out of high school with a few months of on-the-job training, and that most of the jobs that required an advanced degree could be performed by somebody with a humbler degree. I have a theory about education that's quite different from yours. The personnel departments can raise the educational requirements for jobs arbitrarily high to limit the number of people who will apply. So, if the universities crank out a lot of bachelor's degrees, the personnel departments will ask for master's degrees. The result is that it takes more education to get hired than to do the work. So people have to waste several years of their lives getting extra education, that they only use once, when they show their would-be employers their transcripts. -- David Canzi Ultimate tabloid headline: "Crazed by UFO radiation, pregnant man bites dog."
peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (08/16/85)
> Ultimate tabloid headline: "Crazed by UFO radiation, pregnant man bites dog."
..."gives dog AIDS"...
--
Peter da Silva (the mad Australian werewolf)
UUCP: ...!shell!neuro1!{hyd-ptd,baylor,datafac}!peter
MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) (08/16/85)
In article <1596@watdcsu.UUCP> dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) writes: >In article <290@ubvax.UUCP> tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) writes: >>A popular modern theory of education is that education sorts people >>by educational credentials, keeps accounting of these credentials, >>and helps to ensure that the supply of credentials more-or-less >>matches the demand for credentials by adjusting educational standards >>appropriately. Personally, I like this theory. I think it sums >>up all that education can be observed to do. > >I have a theory about education that's quite different from yours. The >personnel departments can raise the educational requirements for jobs >arbitrarily high to limit the number of people who will apply. So, if >the universities crank out a lot of bachelor's degrees, the personnel >departments will ask for master's degrees. > >The result is that it takes more education to get hired than to do the >work. So people have to waste several years of their lives getting >extra education, that they only use once, when they show their would-be >employers their transcripts. That's not a different theory at all. I said "helps to ensure", not "ensures". Big difference. There's definitely some inflation of credentials whenever a glut in supply for a particular job arises. Equilibrium is as usual the micro pipe dream. On the other hand, personnel departments are becoming aware that screening by credentials can lead to hiring overqualified people -- who may by virtue of being overqualified applying for a lesser job be indicating undercompetence in past jobs (*maybe*, note). So the strategy of upping credential requirements is usually not what happens; more often upping experience requirements is what happens, I think. Tony Wuersch {amd,amdcad}!cae780!ubvax!tonyw "And if you don't believe all the things I say, I'm certified prime by the USDA!"