#credentialism

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Anaxagoras maintained that snow is black, but no one believed him. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤.

Various results will soon be arrived at.

First, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞.

Second, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐧.

Third, that 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞.

Fourth, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. (aka “crackpot conspirarcy theories”)

But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark gray.

Although this science will be diligently studied, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.

When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen…

Some of these effects depend upon the political and economic character of the country concerned; others are inevitable, whatever this character may be.”

—Bertrand Russell

Today, thousands of employers routinely use college degrees as a convenient way to screen and hire job applicants, even when postsecondary credentials bear no obvious connection to job duties or performance. In a comprehensive report last year, researchers from Harvard Business School documented increasing “degree inflation” — as employers demand baccalaureate degrees for middle-skill jobs that don’t obviously require one. The researchers estimated that this phenomenon encompassed more than six million jobs across dozens of industries. In fact, nearly two-thirds of employers surveyed admitted to having rejected applicants with the requisite skills and experience simply because they lacked a college degree.

Degree requirements are proliferating absent evidence they correlate with job necessity — and, indeed, despite some evidence to the contrary. A 2014 survey conducted by Burning Glass Technologies found that employers are increasingly requiring bachelor’s degrees for positions whose current workers don’t have one and where the requisite skills haven’t changed. Employer preference for degrees is rising even for entry-level occupations, like IT help-desk technicians, where the job postings do not include skills typically taught at the baccalaureate level, and there is little to no difference in requested skill sets for postings requiring a college degree compared to those that do not.

[...]

The burdens of credential inflation, of course, fall most heavily on those of modest means — heightening the obstacles for low-income and working-class individuals. Degree requirements summarily disqualify noncredentialed workers with relevant skills and experience from attractive jobs. They bar young people from taking entry-level jobs and building the expertise and abilities that open up new opportunities. And they hold families and would-be workers hostage, forcing them to devote time and money toward degree collecting, whether or not those credentials actually convey much in the way of relevant skills or knowledge.

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — Thursday, June 4, 2026, 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time Meritocracy is widely assumed to be the organizing principle behind modern hiring and governance. The idea is simple and reassuring: the most capable individuals rise to positions of responsibility based on skill, effort, and demonstrated competence. Yet…