The (usually Libertarian AFAIU) Library of Economics and Liberty isn't my usual stomping grounds, but Bryan Caplan writes well there on just that aspect in "What Bad Students Know that Good Economists Don't"
The college premium skyrocketed over the last three decades. B.A.s now out-earn high school grads by 70-80%. College graduation, in contrast, barely rose. In econospeak, the supply of college graduates looks bizarrely price-inelastic.
Over the last two months, I've read virtually everything ever written on this puzzle. All of the compelling stories converge on a single factor I've emphasized for years: The return to trying to get a degree is far lower than the return to successfully getting a degree. Why? Because marginal students routinely fail to graduate. The single best paper on this theme: "The Education Risk Premium" by Janice Eberly and Kartik Athreya.
For various reasons, I've been saying for a year or so now that "we're not going to educate our way out of this mess". Education helps, yes, but it's also pretty distinctly limited, and I'm seeing increasing evidence that there's only so much potential among most students. Though there are notable exceptions: see "Stand and Deliver".
The college premium skyrocketed over the last three decades. B.A.s now out-earn high school grads by 70-80%. College graduation, in contrast, barely rose. In econospeak, the supply of college graduates looks bizarrely price-inelastic.
Over the last two months, I've read virtually everything ever written on this puzzle. All of the compelling stories converge on a single factor I've emphasized for years: The return to trying to get a degree is far lower than the return to successfully getting a degree. Why? Because marginal students routinely fail to graduate. The single best paper on this theme: "The Education Risk Premium" by Janice Eberly and Kartik Athreya.
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/02/why_the_college....
For various reasons, I've been saying for a year or so now that "we're not going to educate our way out of this mess". Education helps, yes, but it's also pretty distinctly limited, and I'm seeing increasing evidence that there's only so much potential among most students. Though there are notable exceptions: see "Stand and Deliver".
More of my own take:
http://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1y5aq0/the_coll...