Senator Rubio Advances The Ball With Higher Education Ideas That Could Be "Game-Changers"

◼ As Senator Rubio told his audience, his bill “aims to give students reliable data on how much they can expect to make versus how much they can expect to owe.” - George Leaf/Forbes

...Perhaps the most subversive idea Rubio has in this regard is a federal program that would certify people who have learned valuable skills outside of the formal educational system.

The Senator said, “We could jumpstart and create private sector confidence in this practice by creating a pilot program to hire such workers in federal agencies. The agencies would identify occupations where employees could have learned skills from non-traditional sources….I suspect that we will find that in many fields, the sources of an employee’s education is far less important than many previously thought. Those who have the skills and aptitude to be successful in a job deserve the opportunity to be considered for employment, even if they learned the trade from a non-traditional source.”

Here’s why that could be revolutionary. Much of the private sector has succumbed to degree snobbery to such an extent that having a degree from an accredited college is now mandatory for people seeking a wide array of jobs that could be done by any intelligent and industrious person, with or without any college coursework. Hardly any firms have shown a willingness to break free of the college credential mania.