Tangentially related, at my current job we do not filter candidates by certain "top schools" and it has lead to the most diverse (ethnic, gender, vocational background, social economic, nationality, etc.) team of software engineers I've ever worked on. This is in sharp contrast to all my previous jobs where they consistently filter by a list of schools. Obviously this is not a silver bullet but it's quite shocking to realize how many really qualified candidates (and now amazing coworkers) are filtered out that way. We still have engineers from Berkeley, the Ivies, etc. but our most common school is SJSU and this is the best team I've ever worked on in terms of talent, cohesiveness, and kindness.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
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Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#62University education has a been a "baseline" to determine qualified candidates. It also sorta implies broadened horizons, overall mature thought process, and several other qualities that are desirable the advisors/staffers. What other alternatives exists to University education that impart the same level of knowledge and understanding to an individual that can be consistently measured? If education is expensive, then…
I like this, and I think you hit the nail on the head with the price of education.
An expert curation of thought techniques and their traditions that aims to develop a critical insight into a discipline (and into reality in general) in a crucial social setting is not really attainable anywhere else. Noam Chomsky noticed this in his famous essay "The Function of a University..." Obviously critical thinking is not a requirement for a government job, and maybe even a detriment?
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#63Sort of related, ontario is dropping university requirements for police: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-eliminating-edu... I wonder if it's coincidence or the start of a trend back to sanity about job qualifications. Ironically, by becoming almost ubiquitous, university education also becomes irrelevant.
I'd prefer police officers with EMT (and preferably paramedic) training to those with four-year sociology degrees.
Knowledge of DNA and computer forensic methods and necessities, though, would probably improve their chances of getting promoted, as would legal training. However, those skills could easily be learned at two-year community college progams.
All in all, I think this kind of focus would lead to a more professional police force.
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#64I've never heard any justification for having "college education" as a job requirement. Or at least no justification that didn't amount to "keep out people who aren't like us", or "pretend to be competent", or "posture as exclusive".
Do you want a Dr operating on you who didn't graduate from college or medical school? There is a reason why degrees are requirements.
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#65I've never heard any justification for having "college education" as a job requirement. Or at least no justification that didn't amount to "keep out people who aren't like us", or "pretend to be competent", or "posture as exclusive".
A lot of places are dropping all lowering their degree requirements as part of a move to increase diversity. McKinsey [1] and Harvard Business Review [2] have both written on the topic.
[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/new-at-mckinsey-blog/teari...
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#66University education has a been a "baseline" to determine qualified candidates. It also sorta implies broadened horizons, overall mature thought process, and several other qualities that are desirable the advisors/staffers. What other alternatives exists to University education that impart the same level of knowledge and understanding to an individual that can be consistently measured? If education is expensive, then…
Agreed. > If education is expensive, then making it less expensive seems to be the natural solution than eliminating its requirement. Most of the arguments I see saying that college is too expensive are kind of like people using Lamborghinis to say that cars are too expensive. The fact that you can spend $500k on a car does not mean that cars are expensive. The fact that you can go $400k into debt for college doesn't…
If you aren't targeting a field that requires a college education, even a cheap one is still pretty expensive in terms of time and money, and some subjects at some schools can be really weak. I can see why some people would opt for trade school or just learning on the job.
What annoys me a little is when highly paid software engineers around me say college is pointless, when every single one of them went to a good college thanks to their parents.
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#67Sort of related, ontario is dropping university requirements for police: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-eliminating-edu... I wonder if it's coincidence or the start of a trend back to sanity about job qualifications. Ironically, by becoming almost ubiquitous, university education also becomes irrelevant.
Police should definitely be more highly educated, we see the result of them not being so in the US
More educated : Yes.
Have a second-rate college degree to fulfill arbitrary qualification requirement: No.
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#68I've never heard any justification for having "college education" as a job requirement. Or at least no justification that didn't amount to "keep out people who aren't like us", or "pretend to be competent", or "posture as exclusive".
Highly technical jobs in chemistry, physics, engineering, molecular biology require a certain kind of college education that involves a lot of hands-on experience in research labs. The traditional college coursework is not nearly as important as what amounts to vocational training working side-by-side with technicians, grad students, postdocs etc. There's no real way to acquire the needed experience without getting into a four-year research-centric university.
A private company just isn't going to invest the time and energy needed to train an apprentice in these fields from scratch, and two-year community colleges rarely have access to the latest modern technology.
Other than that, your comment seems pretty accurate.
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Was there credible doubt that would have been alleviated with proof?
There of course was never a credible doubt that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, either.
It wouldn't have mattered either way because his mother was a US citizen, making him a natural-born citizen even if he were born in outer space.
Re: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
#70Sort of related, ontario is dropping university requirements for police: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-eliminating-edu... I wonder if it's coincidence or the start of a trend back to sanity about job qualifications. Ironically, by becoming almost ubiquitous, university education also becomes irrelevant.
Police should definitely be more highly educated, we see the result of them not being so in the US
Education won't fix broken incentives namely a lack of consequences for bad behavior. If anything shrinking the pool will only worsen it.