ABSTRACT
Most Americans believe that the more education people have, the better people do in life. Education is thus the most popular solution both for the individual's desire for success and mobility and for society's need to solve its problems. California possesses a vast and in many respects a model system of public higher education. Education has become the most popular solution to America's social and economic ills. Unfortunately, economists and public planners usually assume that the education that employers require for the jobs they offer is altogether beneficial to the firm. Educational requirements continue to go up; yet most employers have made no effort to find out whether people with better educations make better workers than people with inferior educations. The inescapable conclusion is that the structure and financing of public higher education in California heightens rather than narrows inequalities in economic opportunities.
