Perhaps the trend to question the value of graduate degrees, which even has spilled over to opinions that some college degrees have no value, has gotten a big boost of support. A new Gallup poll shows that:

Fewer than half of adults employed full or part time in the United States, 43%, say the type of work they do generally requires a bachelor’s or a more advanced degree.

After all, how many Americans expect to need to do heart surgery or create new search engines.

The data does cut contrary to the long-held belief that a college degree is necessary for most people in the United States to get ahead. It is part of a multi-generational and deeply held notion that Americans should work to educate their children. That, in turn, will give those children enhanced opportunities to get better jobs than their parents have.

The trend reported by Gallup has no direct relationship to the recent worry that student loans have burdened many Americans who have degrees but either cannot find work or can only find work that does not match their educational attainment. Looked at in the cold light of day, the need for a college degree now gets undermined in two ways. One is the extreme long-term financial load, which may exist for years. The other is a perception of the U.S. workforce that acknowledges the fact that many American jobs do not reward years of difficult academic work.

Even for jobs in which it is supposed that a college degree is absolutely necessary, that assumption may not be true:

Two-thirds of workers with professional, executive, or managerial jobs say a college degree is necessary in their line of work. Among those in all other white-collar jobs, the rate drops to 50%, with an equal number saying a college degree is not necessary.

Many people realize that working in offices and off the shop floor involves less academic training than colleges would have people believe.

If the dream of a college education is the foundation of a the belief that school is the best route to better work, it is time to think again. Four years of classes, on top of high school, is four years too long.

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