Why Are So Many College Graduates Driving Taxis?

[Igel]

2. A nice article that fills column inches but not brain cells.

The "earnings premium" is nice to mention and all that, but you really have to have more categories than just "college" and "no college" to do it justice.

Got JD? More $.

Got B.Eng.? Not bad. Not bad at all.

Got BA in French language and literature? Probably not much $.

Now cross that with colleges. Got JD from Rural Midwest University at Lesser Podunk (R-MULP)Less $ than JD from Harvard.

Got B. Eng. in nuclear engineering from R-MULP and want to compare with mech eng from MIT?

Or how about that R-MULP degree in French, featuring a week's study in Quebec and specialization in Moliere, versus that Berkeley BA that had you do your junior year at the Sorbonne entirely in French and where you also mastered simultaneous interpretation and EU business law?

Yeah. It's like comparing peaches and turnips. Esp. given the research that shows that the "cognitive skills" associated with college are scant for some schools and majors and extensive for other schools and majors.