"(T)he Bureau of Labor Statistics has demonstrated a correlation between level of education and not only salary levels, but unemployment levels as well. “New data tell an old story,” the Bureau asserts. “The more you learn, the more you earn—and the less likely you are to be unemployed.”

Yes, but as we all know, correlation does not prove causation. When I finally finished college, I had a spectacular education: a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities, a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, concentrations in International Studies and Religious Studies, a minor in Biology, and more miscellaneous free electives than I can count. Add to that a pilot's license and two courses at the National Outdoor Leadership School, and you had somebody who could be useful in all kinds of situations. My first job after college? sweeping the floor of an electroplating factory on the northwest side of Chicago. No employer has ever been the least bit interested in my education; what they've all wanted is experience. Now that I have experience, I am in demand in my field, but I could have been a high school drop-out and still ended up right where I am today.

There is this myth that gets perpetuated that better jobs and employment follow from better education-- that employers look for education-- but I can't point to one shred of evidence that bears this relationship out. There is a strong correlation, certainly, but that correlation can be explained by the habits of mind which drive one to get an education being the same habits of mind that lead to success in the working world. Go read "A Message to Garcia" for an employer's perspective on this. (You'll find it easily on the internet.) Employers don't care much about education because nobody cares what you are-- people care what you do. It is doing, not being, that rules the day.

The people who most want us to believe that education leads to employment are probably the colleges themselves. When colleges were first established in the Middle Ages, they were vehicles for self-improvement, a means for those fortunate to attend them to develop into well-rounded human beings. In the last fifty years or so, we've seen colleges turn into vocational schools; their student bodies and tuitions have swelled, while their academic offerings have become more diverse and inane. (I know one person who's actually majoring in "real estate management," for crying out loud.) College students and society as a whole would be better off if we shifted college educations back towards things like the Liberal Arts and held no illusions about college being a road to employment. To do that we have to stop perpetuating this myth that education equals a job.