This logic may have been closer to reality 50-60 years ago, but not any more. As a society, our collective breadth of knowledge has grown exponentially in the 150 years since the Industrial Revolution, and today there is simply more to learn and comprehend, more branches of knowledge that have resulted in thousands of new jobs, and ultimately more rigid qualifications to obtain such jobs. Long ago, if you wanted to be an archaeologist, you could put in your four years, get your diploma, and be uncovering and dusting off fossils before the end of the weekend. Today, it takes a bare minimum of a master’s degree to work in the field – if you want to teach at the university level, you’ll need a PhD. That’s a lot of school to get through in order to make your way to the bare bones.

There is quite simply a larger number of educated, qualified individuals competing for many of the more attractive jobs out there, so individuals, businesses and government have had to become more selective, stepping up the minimum requirements for consideration with regard to most careers. If you want to be a productive, regularly employed member of the American workforce, get a bachelor’s. But if you want a career that affords you genuine financial security and offers you opportunities for advancement and access to exclusive perks and benefits, you will likely have to go that extra mile. Yeah, we know. It sounds so fair it seems almost unfair.