Should everyone go to college?

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Adam Ozimek does a very nice job debunking the silly idea that every American should attend college. The guy who proposes this actually tries to justify the notion by noting that "The pay gap between college graduates and everyone else reached a record high last year..."

Let us say every single worker in America had a college degree: What would the pay gap then be between  college graduates and everyone else? College graduates would be "everyone else," and would simply get the average wage, on average. Since we would still need carpenters and auto mechanics and hair dressers and janitors, if Leonhardt thinks this average wage will be higher than it is now, he must believe that sending people to college for jobs that don't require college degrees will somehow force their wages up! I don't know about you, but when I hire someone to take down a few trees in my yard, I don't first check if he has a B.A., and then say, "Oh, here's an extra $100!" if he does.

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