The current (January-February 2018) issue of the Atlantic includes an article titled "The World Might Be Better Off Without College for Everyone" by Bryan Caplan -- link here.
It reminded me that back when I was college age (late 1950s) I sometimes heard or read the somewhat casual observation that to graduate from a decent (or better) college or university, one had to have an IQ of about 110 or better. That works out to around 25 or 30 percent of the population being that capable.
Elementary and secondary schools generally did a better job of basic skills preparation in those days. And on the job-hiring end, there was probably a lot less credentialism than now. The result was that not having a college degree wasn't a career crippler.
I think that system was better balanced than the current one whereby vocational education is often downplayed and in some cases eliminated from the high school curriculum for some reason related to "esteem-building."
In recent times I've heard calls for everyone getting a college education. The fantasy behind this notion was that professional-level jobs would suddenly appear to absorb the universal attainment of higher education. But if higher education is actually or even potentially universal, then the term "higher" no longer applies: college simply becomes added years of high school. Which might be happening anyway, given all those college majors with two-word names, the second word being "Studies."
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