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Demographics. Compulsory public education became a thing in the US around the same time child labor laws were becoming wide spread. This was coincidentally ar

Demographics. Compulsory public education became a thing in the US around the same time child labor laws were becoming wide spread. This was coincidentally around the time men were coming back from the world wars and needing to take back the jobs their children/wives had been filling. Well, all those boomers are still alive, and we needed an excuse to keep their kids/grandkids out of the work force a little longer. Hence over-saturation of college degree requirements. That's changing as the boomers die out, so we will see "college degrees" become less of a requirement. The only thing that could keep it going is competition from immigrants, but I doubt that will be the case.

rgblambda 6y ago
I've long suspected this as the real reason but have yet to see any hard evidence.
BlueTemplar 6y ago
Boomers are the children of the generation that came back from war.
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  Correct, and they're still working.
labcomputer 6y ago
Actually, history tells a different story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_... Notice how the high school graduation rate among 25-29 year-olds rose between 1940 and 1950. Those are people who graduated high school between 1929-1934 and 1939-1943. Before WWII. This pre-WWII trend is consistent with the post-WWII trend, up until ~1978 when effectively "everyone" graduated high school. In other words, this has been happening since before WWII, and WWI had nowhere near the civilian mobilization as WWII, so the demobilized wives/children argument doesn't explain the inter-war increase. As for college: Notice how the number of 25-29 year-olds with college degrees rises dramatically between 1948 and 1951 and then slowly through about 1960. That's WWII vets using the GI bill to go to college (18-21 year-olds starting 1945 to 1948). Then the increase tapers off. There's another significant rise between 1965 and 1978. That's boomers avoiding the Vietnam draft with college deferments. Then it levels off (actually, decreases) for 20 years until the late 90's. The late 90's rise corresponds to the late-80's / early-90's push to throw student loans at anyone with a pulse. Starting in 2008, the rate starts rising again: Young adults of all ages staying in or going back to finish college because the Great Recession killed a bunch of jobs. Plus, probably, some amount of people who started college around 2002 to avoid being drafted for Iraq (which didn't end up happening anyway).
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  These things are not mutually exclusive. For example, during the Great Recession, why were young people particularly unemployed, sending them to college? Because their elders held onto those jobs, squeezing them out of the work force. It became a meme that you needed 5 years of experience for an "entry level" position.

rgblambda 6y ago

I've long suspected this as the real reason but have yet to see any hard evidence.

BlueTemplar 6y ago

Boomers are the children of the generation that came back from war.

Consultant32452 6y ago
Correct, and they're still working.

labcomputer 6y ago

Actually, history tells a different story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_... Notice how the high school graduation rate among 25-29 year-olds rose between 1940 and 1950. Those are people who graduated high school between 1929-1934 and 1939-1943. Before WWII. This pre-WWII trend is consistent with the post-WWII trend, up until ~1978 when effectively "everyone" graduated high school. In other words, this has been happening since before WWII, and WWI had nowhere near the civilian mobilization as WWII, so the demobilized wives/children argument doesn't explain the inter-war increase. As for college: Notice how the number of 25-29 year-olds with college degrees rises dramatically between 1948 and 1951 and then slowly through about 1960. That's WWII vets using the GI bill to go to college (18-21 year-olds starting 1945 to 1948). Then the increase tapers off. There's another significant rise between 1965 and 1978. That's boomers avoiding the Vietnam draft with college deferments. Then it levels off (actually, decreases) for 20 years until the late 90's. The late 90's rise corresponds to the late-80's / early-90's push to throw student loans at anyone with a pulse. Starting in 2008, the rate starts rising again: Young adults of all ages staying in or going back to finish college because the Great Recession killed a bunch of jobs. Plus, probably, some amount of people who started college around 2002 to avoid being drafted for Iraq (which didn't end up happening anyway).

Consultant32452 6y ago
These things are not mutually exclusive. For example, during the Great Recession, why were young people particularly unemployed, sending them to college? Because their elders held onto those jobs, squeezing them out of the work force. It became a meme that you needed 5 years of experience for an "entry level" position.