Seminar Briefing: Who Needs a College Education Anyway?
December 7, 2008
Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, Atlanta
Application Deadline: Ended - October 24, 2008
President Barack Obama set an ambitious new goal for the country, proclaiming in his speech to a joint session of Congress on February 24, 2009 that "by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world." At present, America lags behind nine other nations in the percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds who have at least an associate's degree. Only two out of five Americans aged 25 to 34 have an associate's degree or higher, compared to almost three out of five Canadians (who ranked first).
But not everyone agrees that we need more college graduates.
The link between educational attainment and economic growth, some say, is tenuous. Economist Richard Rothstein, for instance, notes that it "takes no more education to drive a forklift at Amazon than at Kmart."
Against this backdrop, author Charles Murray and researcher Anthony Carnevale debated the question of "Who Needs a College Education Anyway?" at the Hechinger Institute's Seminar for Higher Education Reporters in December 2008. Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed moderated the debate.
Murray, the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, recently published Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality, (Random House, 2008). The controversial book argues that the U.S. places undue emphasis on the value of bachelor's degrees. Much of what people need to know to succeed can be learned on the job, Murray contends, and most employers view a bachelor's degree as a screening mechanism rather than a guarantee that certain skills have been mastered. Because ability varies and 50 percent of people are below average, our current system of higher education makes little sense, Murray claims.
Carnevale, research professor and director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, argues we should encourage as many students as possible to attend and graduate from college. Carnevale says intelligence isn't fixed at birth and can be influenced by education. Social inequality, in Carnevale's view, is driven by societal conditions and not biology. Our current system of higher education isn't in need of a radical overhaul - it works fairly well - and it is more competitive and flexible than European models, Carnevale says.
After their presentations, Murray and Carnevale took questions from journalists participating in the Seminar.
Who Needs College Anyway?
Introduction by moderator Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed[2:57]
Opening Remarks by Charles Murray,
W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute [8:20]
Opening Remarks by Anthony Carnevale,
Research Professor and Director, Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University [7:45]
Charles Murray on
Why the Bachelor's Degree Still Rules - But Shouldn't [2:12]
Anthony Carnevale on
Joe the Plumber, or Why It Pays to Get a Bachelor's Degree [1:03]
Charles Murray on the
Role of IQ in Relation to Performance [1:50]
Anthony Carnevale on
SATs and College Graduation Rates [4:28]
Charles Murray on
Our Country's Real Postsecondary Education Needs [3:29]
Anthony Carnevale on
Why the European Postsecondary Model is Inferior to America's [0:59]
Charles Murray on
Why College Isn't the Only Answer [1:10]
Anthony Carnevale on
the Distribution of Power in America [1:49]
David Moltz of Inside Higher Ed
asks Murray and Carnevale whether they'd trade in their advanced degrees for a "skills certificate." [2:34]
Andrew Shaw of the York (Penn.) Dispatch
asks Murray whether he favors revamping the entire K-12 system and abandoning the notion that high school should last four years. [2:36]
Richard Colvin, Director of the Hechinger Institute
asks what the societal benefit of having a well-educated population is, and how one might place a value on it. [3:57]
Support for this video and Seminar was provided by
Lumina Foundation for Education.
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Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 3:00PM 
