It hit me when I saw this craigslist post for a Yelp data entry job.
Responsibilities:
•Reviewing and researching business data
•Accurately/flawlessly updating business informationRequirements:
•BA/BS degree
•Attention to detail with the ability to complete a large volume of work quickly
•(…)
Yes, now candidates for data entry jobs “need” undergraduate degrees. What’s next? Will SF cab drivers need BA/BS degrees?
Of course, maybe this is just a reflection of the unusually high applicant/job ratio in the Bay Area.
kfarr 
Don’t panic! Everything will be alright. There’s always room for everyone, just be patient. Some of the most successful people in the world did not finish high school nor attend college, for example Donald Trump and Bill Gates.
I responded to your blog because I understand your needs and concerns about employment and the right career.
Please visit my profile and take a look at my website.
Best Wishes,
Suziann 🙂
I’ve been saying this ever since I got out of college. Unfortunately, it’s a reflection of a few things. First, education in America is declining. The experiences of debate and scholarship that existed a few generations ago have been replaced with what essentially feels like high school with more disposable income and no adult supervision (and please, don’t try to tell me that most college kids could be considered adults in any more than a legal sense).
The workplace reflects that changing reality and makes me wonder if perhaps it is a good thing that college is becoming less affordable. The fact is that most intelligent college grads would be so bored with the idea of a data entry job that it would go unfilled or (the more likely of the two scenarios) that the position would constantly be in a state of flux. With the bar being lowered for colleges, though, a very large number of students go to college that lower the aggregate level of intelligence and cheapen the experience for the people there to LEARN.
Because of this, I can honestly say that I got more from the out of classroom experiences I had in college than I did from a professor. This effect of oversaturation and cheapening of college education is also probably why the washout rate of quarterlifers in corporate America is so profound and why so many middle-aged business types think that gen x & y are lazy. The fact is that these businesses want to use a Ferrari to pick up groceries when a station wagon works just fine. Hiring someone for a position like that with a college education is ridiculous. Not only would it be cheaper to hire less-educated workers, but they would probably be more satisfied with the work.
Someone will probably complain that this all sounds very elitist, but that isn’t my point. By imposing an unrealistic standard on potential employees, the workplace creates an unnecessary demand for degrees from people that aren’t interested in learning, but rather in getting a piece of paper that sets them up for a job. These people degrade the academic experience and lower the standard of education. This cheapens the value of a degree for everyone and makes it more difficult for the world at large to separate the wheat from the chaff, which is why so many people of our generation have no idea what to do and face bleak job prospects and a lot of soul searching. Or else they could choose a slow, painful descent into mediocrity and always settling because it’s so damn hard to do otherwise.