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Scarcity creates value. The value of a college degree has, and continues to be, the fact that the university spent a great deal of time and expense selecting y

Scarcity creates value. The value of a college degree has, and continues to be, the fact that the university spent a great deal of time and expense selecting you. That filtering process, combined with the student's subsequent graduation, makes for a fairly reliable signaling mechanism for employers. The raw information presented in the curricula is the least valuable part of the entire experience; the market reflects this fact.

shmerl 11y ago
Except it's not the true value. Real value is knowledge, not artificial limiting of it.
eru 11y ago
> The value of a college degree has, and continues to be, the fact that the university spent a great deal of time and expense selecting you. How does your theory hold up in countries where universities accept everyone, but degrees are still useful?
- lordCarbonFiber 11y ago
  I'd like to see examples of said countries; at least of any of the developed nations I'm familiar with, I've never heard of such a scheme. In universal education schemes, like what are common in Europe, competition for top schools is extremely high, a single test score determines the trajectory of a student's life in many cases. In systems like that are present in places China, performance not only dictates your school but also your profession with highest performers tracked for the engineering and sciences and working its way down (unless of course you are independently wealthy to the point of seeking foreign education). I suspect, from my personal experience; n=small etc, the value in the ~knowledge~ of a 4 year bachelor's degree in the united states is very close to 0, honestly. Especially for the people in this community, I would be extremely surprised if what was taught in schools came up anywhere bu a white board interview from a pretentious company. I would love to hear counter anecdotes or be presented data to the contrary
  - eru 11y ago
    > I've never heard of such a scheme. In universal education schemes, like what are common in Europe, competition for top schools is extremely high, a single test score determines the trajectory of a student's life in many cases. I am most familiar with the German system (as of a decade ago). We just don't have that many globally relevant top schools, and for the ones we have, competition isn't that tough (outside of specific fields like medicine). If you want to study, say, maths basically everyone who clears the threshold can just sign up to any university. And the `single testscores' aint so, it's usually an average of your last two years of high school grades (=Abiturnoten). These are easily gamed, of course. If you are willing to wait, there's also a queue for eg medicine to get in with worse grades. It's not all roses---partly because of almost no selection on entry, attrition rates especially in first year can be truly atrocious.

shmerl 11y ago

Except it's not the true value. Real value is knowledge, not artificial limiting of it.

eru 11y ago

> The value of a college degree has, and continues to be, the fact that the university spent a great deal of time and expense selecting you. How does your theory hold up in countries where universities accept everyone, but degrees are still useful?

lordCarbonFiber 11y ago
I'd like to see examples of said countries; at least of any of the developed nations I'm familiar with, I've never heard of such a scheme. In universal education schemes, like what are common in Europe, competition for top schools is extremely high, a single test score determines the trajectory of a student's life in many cases. In systems like that are present in places China, performance not only dictates your school but also your profession with highest performers tracked for the engineering and sciences and working its way down (unless of course you are independently wealthy to the point of seeking foreign education). I suspect, from my personal experience; n=small etc, the value in the ~knowledge~ of a 4 year bachelor's degree in the united states is very close to 0, honestly. Especially for the people in this community, I would be extremely surprised if what was taught in schools came up anywhere bu a white board interview from a pretentious company. I would love to hear counter anecdotes or be presented data to the contrary
- eru 11y ago
  > I've never heard of such a scheme. In universal education schemes, like what are common in Europe, competition for top schools is extremely high, a single test score determines the trajectory of a student's life in many cases. I am most familiar with the German system (as of a decade ago). We just don't have that many globally relevant top schools, and for the ones we have, competition isn't that tough (outside of specific fields like medicine). If you want to study, say, maths basically everyone who clears the threshold can just sign up to any university. And the `single testscores' aint so, it's usually an average of your last two years of high school grades (=Abiturnoten). These are easily gamed, of course. If you are willing to wait, there's also a queue for eg medicine to get in with worse grades. It's not all roses---partly because of almost no selection on entry, attrition rates especially in first year can be truly atrocious.