Lillard, Kelsey: Credentialing

                  "Death By Degrees" is an article that breaks down America's credentialing system and shows the reader where it's hurting more than helping our country. It's true, without a degree you won't get far in our society. But what if the value of the degree was taken away?  What would happen?

                  As the article states "Over the centuries, as China’s scholar–bureaucrats grew more powerful, their metrics of assessment became increasingly intricate. Those who passed were stratified into nine grades, and each grade was further divided into two degrees" (2nd paragraph). This division helped to form a diverse workforce, much like my college experience today, a degree will allow me to move up the ladder to a bigger and better job. This may not mean I'm that much more educated, "Our elaborate, expensive system of higher education is first and foremost a system of stratification, and only secondly — and very dimly — a system for imparting knowledge."  Exam performance corresponded exactly to salary even in 605 CE. It seems as if the credentialing system is a dangerous one to play with, if you discourage society with failure for long enough, someone might just rebel (Hong Xiuquan). 

                  This article also points out the crippling debt that college students must face to become credentialed. "Although America’s college graduates are already late on paying nearly $300 billion in loans, they don’t have the option of walking away from these debts," so even if post-graduation plans fall through, students must still come up with the money. Luckily, I chose a college that would not leave me in a financial hole, but I may not be as employable as someone with a degree from an Ivy League school, with the credentialing system it seems one must pick the lesser of two evils. 

                  If I were to not graduate from college, I would probably not be able to pursue the career I wish. I would be able to find work, but it wouldn't be my dream job, and it probably would be hard to make ends meet. I do believe I am being forced to become credentialed if I want to live a comfortable life. An alternative to credentialing could be something like the article said, if all high school valedictorians refused to go to college this would cause an uproar and things would change. A new system would have to be formed, but perhaps it could be less broad of a system. I think it would be better for people to learn extensive knowledge in the field they wished to pursue over getting so much surface level knowledge of everything.