By Ben Miller Over on the op-ed page of today's Wall Street Journal ($), Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute argues that we need more certification tests for jobs, exams that would allow individuals to demonstrate knowledge gained and thereby bypass college altogether. Murray’s argument for more tests like the CPA exam is predicated on a notion popular among conservatives that any part of college lacking in real-world bearing is superfluous (i.e. if it isn’t related to a specific job or profession, it’s useless). This tactic, which has also been somewhat endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education, hopes to convert college into an advanced form of vocational education, where outcomes are solely based on acquiring a very specific body of knowledge. This mentality can also be seen from comments such as this one on Matt's blog, that denigrate some majors simply because they aren’t “useful” in that they directly correlate to a specific profession. But the truth of the matter is, despite the diverse offerings on college campuses, the job market is full of a seemingly infinite variety of positions, and it isn’t possible to have a separate “useful” major for each of these openings. Moreover, college shouldn’t be about accumulating a narrowly defined base of specific knowledge via rote memorization. Instead, we should think of postsecondary education as an opportunity to learn how to think and analyze information such that a graduate can take these non-specific skills and apply them to any job.
