Charles Murray says it is for most people.  He has an interesting essay in the Wall Street Journal that talks about how the BA has become the gold standard when it does not necessarily indicate any special level of job skills.  He speculates about whether this would happen if we were designing our education system from the ground up:

First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn’t meet the goal. We will call the goal a “BA.”

The essay is well-written and thought-provoking.  Read the whole thing.  Murray has a book coming out soon entitled, “Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality” (linked to Amazon Kindle edition).  I don’t know if the description from Publisher’s Weekly is accurate.  If it is, I will have some disagreement with the book.  Still, the recognition that job skills are more important than academic stamps of approval is important and far too rare.

UPDATE:  For a related post, check out “Is College Worth It?”

I heard another great story today about one of our graduates.  A young man came to TSTC after spending a year at our local community college.  Although he achieved his academic requirements, he still did not have any direction.  He was convinced by a friend to visit our campus.  After visiting he decided to double major in  ECP and ICR (Electrical Systems/Computerized Controls).

That young man was recently hired by a nuclear power plant for more than $62,000/year.  He received a $5000 signing  bonus and will be eligible for a raise to around $65K in a few months.  Please note that he has no BA, BS, MA, or MS.  What he does have is an AAS and the marketable skills he received in technical education.

(To see all of the great TRUE stories in my “Joy of Technical Education” series, click here.)