[chongli]

This article is just a companion piece for the author's book, The Case Against Education [1]. I'm reading this book for philosophy class and one of my top questions going in was "what about the engineers?" Well, Caplan heads that off at the pass: his father was an engineer and he says repeatedly that vocational degrees like engineering and medicine are about more than signalling. His earnings data prove that point, too, because it shows that the arts degrees people people poke fun at the most, earn the least.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36319077-the-case-agains...

[analog31]

I would also ask: "What about the musicians?" After all, music degrees are heavily vocational. But the music vocation itself is overcrowded unlike engineering or medicine.

The article cites as evidence the large disparity in value between three and four years of college. This is much more prevalent in engineering than in music. Taking three years of college music study, or learning it informally, will in fact prepare you for a music career. I know people who have done it.

In my view, the need to make special exceptions for certain college majors weakens the signaling hypothesis.

Disclaimer: One of my kids is a music major, and I earn part of my income as a musician.

[mcguire]

Does he have anything to say about the difference between the engineering and engineering technology degrees?

(The only firm difference I know is that, if you have the latter, you need not apply to any NASA engineering job.)