Re:America's Reverence for the Bachelor's Degree
by anigbrowl on Monday March 13, 2017 @12:55PM
(#13859658)
Credentialism is often a side-effect of rent-seeking, where existing participants in an industry agree to create barriers to entry (eg requiring a bachelor's degree) while often 'grandfathering in' existing market participants who may lack the qualifications in question. It's one approach to self-regulation, and can interact with governmental regulation in various ways.
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Re:America's Reverence for the Bachelor's Degree
by literallycancer on Monday March 13, 2017 @06:26PM
(#13863097)
Isn't it more just a reflection of assessing people being very hard, so you either prefer people with some work behind them, or use a widely available metric (a degree), even if it only improves the chances of finding good people a tiny bit, because it doesn't cost you anything?
Re:America's Reverence for the Bachelor's Degree
by anigbrowl on Monday March 13, 2017 @06:49PM
(#13863265)
That's a factor too, and likewise you can point to things like legal liability driving pressure for employers to pick people who look good on paper.
I don't mean to suggest all credentialing is bad, obviously I would prefer doctors to have been to medical school and so on. but rent-seeking is a powerful economic force that often goes overlooked and is worth taking time to understand because it's so widespread.
Also lol at that username ;)
Re:America's Reverence for the Bachelor's Degree
by mdpopescu on Tuesday March 14, 2017 @10:51AM
(#13867902)
> obviously I would prefer doctors to have been to medical school
I have twice had the experience of doctors (generalists) looking up symptoms on Google and picking a site - with me there. They didn't even go to a school for learning how to search on Google.
People tend to overestimate the value of credentials.