My readers and students know my skepticism about the financial, or human capital, “value” of college education (December 12th, 2012; April 18th, 2013). And they know I quote a lot of “anecdotal evidence,” including from my immediate family.
My point of departure often was a column by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times who echoed academic arguments, often from economists, about this very value. This of course has been powerfully amplified by national politicians, cheered by universities dependent on student loan guarantees.
So it may interesting to wonder about the possibility that the conversation about college is entering a new phase.
For Friedman is now being educated by Google and he is wondering about what Google is doing might lead:
LAST June, in an interview with Adam Bryant of The Times, Laszlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations for Google — i.e., the guy in charge of hiring for one of the world’s most successful companies — noted that Google had determined that “G.P.A.’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless. … We found that they don’t predict anything.” He also noted that the “proportion of people without any college education at Google has increased over time” — now as high as 14 percent on some teams. At a time when many people are asking, “How’s my kid gonna get a job?” I thought it would be useful to visit Google and hear how Bock would answer. (How to Get a Job at Google, Part 2: April 19 2014)
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