Martin Cullen

UWRT 1102-004

Inquiry Proposal Final Draft

I believe I did a good job of introducing my topic and question, and conducting

preliminary research. I think I need to adjust the conclusion that can better propose the

following steps of answering the inquiry question completely. I would say I have structured

the paper efficiently; using good paragraph lengths and the correct citation format.

Is a Bachelor’s Degree Becoming the New High School Diploma?

My father, a man with twenty years of finance industry experience, once told me that

getting a college degree has become the equivalent to obtaining a high school diploma. He

told me this right before it was time to begin applying to universities, which was probably

just his tactic of encouraging me to continue my education. I didn’t think much of what he

said at the time, because my plan had always been to go to college. However, I started to

think about whether his statement had any truth behind it, subjective or not. I’ve always

understood that it was far more uncommon to attend a four-year institution during our

parents’ generation than our own, but was that just a financial issue, and what have the

effects been due to increased higher education attendance? This is what I plan on researching

and finding an answer for.

It is widely known that more people than ever are attending university, and that more

jobs in both the public and private sectors, require a bachelor’s degree as a minimum

requirement. One reason for the former is that there is a mentality and a certain expectation

that high school graduates should attend university to obtain a higher paying job. Another
reason is the way that elementary, middle, and high schools groom students for higher

education; pressure from teachers, programs designed at encouraging students to attend

college, and standardized tests all enforce the idea of the necessity of higher education.

With regards to a college degree being needed for current jobs, it can be put down to

several things; the increase in the use of technology and the increase in college graduates to

hire from. A job forecast composed by members of Georgetown University shows that in

1973, 28% of jobs required education or training beyond high school, compared to figures

that show by 2020, 65% of jobs will require post-high school education or training.[i] These

statistics show the exponential increase of higher education requirements. This is called

“degree inflation”[ii], which has the negative impact of reducing “the prospects of Americans

without a degree to get jobs, and thus limits their access to a decent standard of living”[iii].

There is also a correlation between growth rate in number of jobs requiring higher education

and the percentage of people obtaining degrees. In a 2017 report released by the US Census

Bureau, “33.4 percent of Americans 25 or older said they had completed a bachelor’s degree

or higher”[iv]. This is considerably higher than the levels in 1940 which came in at just

4.6%.[v]

With technology being more involved with all aspects of the world, jobs are changing

to keep up with these advancements. Catherine Rampell, a New York Time economics

reporter, suggests that “Duties are becoming more complicated, requiring more technical

knowledge and stronger critical thinking skills.”[vi] This provides a solid explanation for

why college degrees, especially STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)

degrees, are required; we need educated people, with expertise in specific areas, to help

continue the development of our technology-driven society.

The fact that corporations are requiring workers to have a college education fuels the

pressure for high school students to attend university, even when it may not be financially
feasible. To add to this, the small number of jobs that have no higher education requirement

still have the opportunity to choose from a well-educated, degree-holding list of candidates,

making it even more difficult for the high-school-only graduate. There are arguments for and

against this. On the one hand, an increase in university attendance produces a higher number

of skilled, educated citizens that contribute to the betterment of society. However, on the

other hand, it’s unfair to force students into higher education when family situations,

economic position, and other factors restrict such opportunity.

I believe most people would agree that a college degree is losing its value in the form

of exclusivity. This alone is causing more people to go and get one for themselves. I would

not consider this a negative however because the more people with a college degree, the more

people a country will have working, which in turns leads to improvement within an economy.

One problem I am still thinking about is when will degree inflation come to an end? In

previous generations, a bachelor’s degree extended you above the rest of the candidates, now

a master’s or a PhD do, so what’s next in the line of succession when it comes to competitive

qualifications?

In a summary of the inquiry proposal, I would suggest that a bachelor’s degree is not

becoming the new high school degree, it is the new high school diploma. This is indicated by

trends in number of people with higher education qualifications and the percentage of jobs

that require college degrees. I will continue to conduct deeper research to further support my

answer and help construct an educated hypothesis for what lies ahead in the future for the

importance, necessity, and reputation of the bachelor’s degree.

[i] “Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020.” CEW Georgetown,
31 Jan. 2018, cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/recovery-job-growth-and-education-
requirements-through-2020/.

[ii] Team, Grads of LifeVoice. “Grads of LifeVoice: New Report On The Harmful Effects Of
Degree Inflation.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 31 Oct. 2017,
www.forbes.com/sites/gradsoflife/2017/10/31/new-report-on-the-harmful-effects-of-degree-
inflation/#6c02c1572288.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Wilson, Reid. “Census: More Americans have college degrees than ever before.”
TheHill, 3 Apr. 2017, thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/326995-census-more-americans-
have-college-degrees-than-ever-before.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Rampell, Catherine. “The college degree has become the new high school degree.” The
Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Sept. 2014,
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/catherine-rampell-the-college-degree-has-become-the-
new-high-school-degree/2014/09/08/e935b68c-378a-11e4-8601-
97ba88884ffd_story.html?utm_term=.e18f3350ddd5.