Ronald Brownstein writes about it in this recent National Journal piece bearing that title. It’s something we should all worry about, sort of like global warming. According to Brownstein, a drop in the percentage of Americans with college degrees is “bad for everyone.”

Of course, in the article you will find nothing about the huge numbers of young people with college degrees who have learned little or nothing during their years in college, nothing on the throngs who are seemingly underemployed (I say “seemingly” because the kinds of low-skill jobs that many of them do might be about right for their ability levels), nothing to suggest that putting more and more people through college has given us a terrible case of credential inflation. What we do find is hand-wringing over ….. diversity. If the percentage of Americans with college credentials starts to drop at the time when an increasing percentage of the population is “minority,” then the country will suffer from a dearth of “qualified” minority workers and leaders.

Brownstein likes Obama’s plan to get more students into community colleges, naturally.

Like nearly all “progressives,” he focuses on aggregate data about groups, then worries about inequalities among groups. Instead of fretting about groups and paper educational credentials, however, why not just allow each individual to optimize his education and skills in a free market? Aside from the fact that it would deprive progressives of one of their favorite subjects to complain about, that is.

Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds