3 ms·

2% of people in the US have doctorates. In the 60s around 13% of men had a 4 year degrees (it was lower for women, but fewer women were working).

lhjiourewi 7y ago
Lets look at the 40s, instead of the 60s. 1940 - 4.6% had a bachelor university degree today - 33% percent have a bachelor, but only 2% have a doctorate > For the first time in history, 90 percent of Americans over 25 years of age have finished high school. In addition, more than one-third of Americans over the age of 25 have a college degree or higher. > That is a big change from 1940. At that time, a Census Bureau study found that less than 25 percent of the U.S. population had completed at least four years of high school. It also found that just 4.6 percent had earned a four-year bachelor’s degree or taken additional classes after completing a study program at a college or university. https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/us-census-bureau-americans-are-more-educated-than-ever-before/4546489.html https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/us-census-bureau-ameri...
- learc83 7y ago
  So phds are the new bachelor's degree in comparison to the old bachelors degrees of nearly 100 years ago when more than 2x the rate of people had bachelors who now have phds, not in comparison to the old bachelors degrees of 50 years ago when 8x the rate of people had bachelors who now have phds? Look people aren't going into phds with the goal of signaling they are educated to the general job market the way people used to go for bachelor's degrees. They go into phd programs because on the whole they are very interested in a specific subject and desire to work in research or academia. Your argument might hold for master's but not phds.
  - lhjiourewi 7y ago
    > not in comparison to the old bachelors degrees of 50 years ago "Degree inflation" didn't happen last year, it was a slow process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Educational_Attainment_in_the_United_States_2009.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_... > people aren't going into phds with the goal of signaling I've seen plenty of programming jobs with "PhD required". For example pretty much any "data-science" job at any company. > Some jobs that used to require a master's degree, such as junior scientific researcher positions and sessional lecturer jobs, now require a Ph.D. Also, some jobs that formerly required only a Ph.D, such as university professor positions, are increasingly requiring one or more postdoctoral fellowship appointments. Often increased requirements are simply a way to reduce the number of applicants to a position. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credentialism_and_educational_inflation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credentialism_and_educational_...
    - learc83 7y ago
      >"Degree inflation" didn't happen last year, it was a slow process. So you think we're going to get to a point in 10 years where 10% of the population has a phd? >I've seen plenty of programming jobs with "PhD required". So have I. For research jobs. Please show me the general programming jobs that have phds required.

lhjiourewi 7y ago

Lets look at the 40s, instead of the 60s. 1940 - 4.6% had a bachelor university degree today - 33% percent have a bachelor, but only 2% have a doctorate > For the first time in history, 90 percent of Americans over 25 years of age have finished high school. In addition, more than one-third of Americans over the age of 25 have a college degree or higher. > That is a big change from 1940. At that time, a Census Bureau study found that less than 25 percent of the U.S. population had completed at least four years of high school. It also found that just 4.6 percent had earned a four-year bachelor’s degree or taken additional classes after completing a study program at a college or university. https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/us-census-bureau-americans-are-more-educated-than-ever-before/4546489.html https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/us-census-bureau-ameri...

learc83 7y ago
So phds are the new bachelor's degree in comparison to the old bachelors degrees of nearly 100 years ago when more than 2x the rate of people had bachelors who now have phds, not in comparison to the old bachelors degrees of 50 years ago when 8x the rate of people had bachelors who now have phds? Look people aren't going into phds with the goal of signaling they are educated to the general job market the way people used to go for bachelor's degrees. They go into phd programs because on the whole they are very interested in a specific subject and desire to work in research or academia. Your argument might hold for master's but not phds.
- lhjiourewi 7y ago
  > not in comparison to the old bachelors degrees of 50 years ago "Degree inflation" didn't happen last year, it was a slow process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Educational_Attainment_in_the_United_States_2009.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_... > people aren't going into phds with the goal of signaling I've seen plenty of programming jobs with "PhD required". For example pretty much any "data-science" job at any company. > Some jobs that used to require a master's degree, such as junior scientific researcher positions and sessional lecturer jobs, now require a Ph.D. Also, some jobs that formerly required only a Ph.D, such as university professor positions, are increasingly requiring one or more postdoctoral fellowship appointments. Often increased requirements are simply a way to reduce the number of applicants to a position. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credentialism_and_educational_inflation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credentialism_and_educational_...
  - learc83 7y ago
    >"Degree inflation" didn't happen last year, it was a slow process. So you think we're going to get to a point in 10 years where 10% of the population has a phd? >I've seen plenty of programming jobs with "PhD required". So have I. For research jobs. Please show me the general programming jobs that have phds required.