Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 alpha 4/15/85; site ubvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!prls!amdimage!amdcad!cae780!ubvax!tonyw From: tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) Newsgroups: net.politics.theory Subject: Re: A grumble about credentialism. Message-ID: <299@ubvax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 16-Aug-85 15:07:39 EDT Article-I.D.: ubvax.299 Posted: Fri Aug 16 15:07:39 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 06:31:20 EDT References: <955@umcp-cs.UUCP> <1110@umcp-cs.UUCP> <290@ubvax.UUCP> <1596@watdcsu.UUCP> Reply-To: tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) Distribution: na Organization: Ungermann-Bass, Inc., Santa Clara, Ca. Lines: 37 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!"