The trends today for students in the American school system (that reach higher levels of education) suggest that a larger proportion of students are pursuing post-graduate degrees, such as MBA's, JD's, and PhD's. While the American school system, as our class readings suggest, has traditionally supported higher levels of education, it is important to analyze whether there is validity to the argument that we are "putting too many post-graduate degrees through". According to an article by Scientific American, larger percentages of students who continue on to achieve PhD's and other post-graduate degrees are unable to get jobs that correspond to those higher level degrees, thus putting their time, money, and efforts to waste. This correlates to the reading by Goldin and Katz regarding the returns to education and technology in the United States. If our education system is not effectively giving proper returns to students for their years in school, they won't participate in education, instead opting to enter the labor force sooner in order to begin their savings. Considering that the standards of education in the US are already behind that of Europe and other nations, it seems counter-intuitive to let this process continue on, or to at least not ensure that those who are pursuing PhD's and other post-graduate degrees are not completely certain about that academic path.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=does-the-us-produce-too-m&page=2
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