I WISH I HAD DID BETTER IN SCHOOL.  An Ohio University accounting professor (via Phi Beta Cons) questions his institution's quality control.

 Isn't giving this man a diploma a lot like lying? Furthermore, does America need "college-educated" bank tellers? Can American afford to spend $100,000 to give everyone a "college education"? Do more such college graduates make the U.S. a more educated nation and better able to compete in a worldwide economy?

The graduate, lack of speaking skills notwithstanding, is working.  Evidently the Ohio degree has some value as a signal, a point elaborated by Bryan Caplan.

When people weigh the plausibility of the signaling model of education, they focus on the ease of on-the-job incompetence detection.  If it only takes a couple of months to notice that a person's credentials overstate their performance, how important can signaling be?  

I've responded to this objection before, but recently realized that I've neglected a parallel problem.  Suppose for the sake of argument that employers can quickly figure out whether an employee is a "lemon."  A serious knowledge still remains: Figuring out whether an employee is a "diamond in the rough."  

Example: Suppose you're the manager in a Starbucks.  How long does it take you to figure out if one of your baristas has the right stuff to become a Starbucks executive?  What are the odds that you totally miss a workers' untapped potential?

If you're willing to admit that diamond-in-the-rough detection is unreliable at best, you've opened another door to the signaling model.  If you're a potentially awesome but unappreciated worker, extra education is a great way to get the market's attention.  Employers hiring for better jobs are a lot less likely to throw your application in the circular file if you've got the right diplomas.

And thus the positional arms race begins.  Perhaps because at the commanding heights, some people respect it.

That’s why self-made people like Sarah Palin, with her crummy journalism degree from Dogtooth State Teachers College, drive them crazy: Their only definition of “smart” has to do with school and GPA.

Probably better as polemic than as a policy principle.  I don't recall anyone questioning Dennis Hastert's or Tammy Duckworth's degrees ... it's when people in public life say silly things that they should be called out, and some of those very expensive signals are still no immunization against people in public life saying silly things.