The article linked mentions that the benefit of education increases nonlinearly with years completed, and then suggests that it’s a signalling mechanism for att

The article linked mentions that the benefit of education increases nonlinearly with years completed, and then suggests that it’s a signalling mechanism for attainment. I don’t entirely know if I agree with that, as I do think an undergraduate degree’s benefits are meant to be more impactful as you learn and specialize. Political Science students might learn general theories before engaging a specific focus, or electrical engineering students might spend their first year or two getting the foundations in place. I feel like the example is saying that if you taught someone programming with variables and not functions, but then claimed that employers use an understanding of functions as a social signal for hiring. That said, I do agree with the sentiment that we kind of over prescribe higher education to the general public. I’ve lost count of how many CS majors I’ve met that seem to have wished they did a trade school for programming instead of a four-year degree.