It has become sexy to dismiss the value of a bachelor’s degree.
“You don’t need a bachelor’s degree to land a high-paying job” says a headline on the National Public Radio website. Underneath that, the story says:
A new study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce finds a growing number of people without a bachelor’s degree are now out-earning those with one. The study found that in the years 2017 through 2019, on average, 16% of high school graduates, 23% of workers with some college and 28% of associate degree holders earned more money than half of all workers with a bachelor’s degree.
But the catch is that it matters a lot what those high school grads and associate degree holders are doing. According to a 2019 Money magazine analysis, the highest paying jobs you can get with an associate’s degree are air traffic controller, radiation therapist and (I especially like this one) nuclear technician. The top three for high school graduates are nuclear power reactor operator (I swear I’m not making this up), transportation, storage and distribution manager, and first-line supervisor of police and detectives. All of these are jobs that require a tremendous amount of very specific training and a significant amount of intellectual horsepower.
In fact, it is likely that most nuclear power reactor operators with high school degrees are capable of earning the associate degrees that would enable them to become nuclear technicians. And that most nuclear technicians are capable of earning bachelors’ degrees in nuclear engineering. And certainly many bachelor’s degree holders in nuclear engineering are capable of earning masters’ degrees or even doctorates in nuclear engineering.
That is also true of individuals in other occupations in which high school graduates or associate degree holders can make more than a significant number of bachelor’s degree holders.
And for students in high-skill, high-demand STEM and health fields, the income gains from going to higher levels of education are substantial, as shown in the figure from the Georgetown University report displayed below.
Then why would a student capable of earning a bachelor’s degree (or higher) in nuclear engineering exit the nuclear pipeline with an associate degree in nuclear technology or even just a high school degree? Certainly, some of these capable individuals just hate school. To be honest, many of us with advanced degrees came to hate school eventually, even if we enjoyed school when we were younger. So it’s not just that some people love school and others don’t. There is an entire spectrum of how much school we can stand – a few (fortunate?) individuals would enjoy staying in school for their entire lives and others struggle to tolerate school from an early age and look at high school graduation (or the statutory minimum age for dropping out of high school) as the promised land.
But perhaps other students who would be able to tolerate a sustained postsecondary run are being told that there is nothing for them to lose by settling for a high school degree or stopping after an associate degree. Where might they be hearing this? Maybe from their parents, if their parents didn’t attend college. Maybe from their teachers or counselors, a few of whom are insensitive enough to let a student’s skin color or background affect their evaluation of that student’s abilities. Maybe from mentors outside of school – at church or on a sports team – who have the same biases.
Or maybe they hear it on National Public Radio – that “You don’t need a bachelor’s degree to land a high-paying job”. So why bother getting a bachelor’s degree?
During a recent visit I made to a high school in the rural Florida Panhandle, a young woman asked me what courses she would need in high school to prepare for a college major in nursing. First I told her that many nursing students underestimate the importance of math in their schooling, licensing exams and careers, so that she should keep taking serious math courses. But then I advised her that she should also be thinking about the possibility that in college she might change her mind and decide to apply to medical school. I reminded her that students considering medical careers should take chemistry, physics and calculus in high school. And then I said, “High school is not a time for you to take career options off the table. If you are planning on any health care career, you should prepare as if you will be at the apex of the health care industry, and that is being a physician. And then if you decide in college to be a nurse, you will be fine.”
I worry that the “You don’t need a bachelor’s degree to land a high-paying job” rhetoric that is now surrounding parents and students is going to convince students with real promise to end their education before they have fulfilled their intellectual potential. That would be a real tragedy for the students, their families and our nation.
Bridge to Tomorrow 