Fred Hirsch The Dual Role Of Education

In his examination of screening as one mechanism which adjusts the demand for positional goods, Fred Hirsch defines the dual role of education as both filter and factory. Having coined the term positional good to describe goods which are “scare” and “subject to congestion,” and thus necessitate exclusion to deliver satisfaction, Hirsch illustrates how education serves as a screening device for the positional good of high-level jobs — which are scarce and congested due to the pyramidal nature of organization hierarchy. Given the increased demand for such jobs as material needs are satisfied, Hirsch warns of increased social waste with a growing emphasis on education and credentials as a labor market filter.

Hirsch suggests that higher education
serves as a filter due to the costs associated with screening applicants for high-level jobs. He writes: “Education serves as a pure screening device, though which employers identity individuals with certain qualities that the educational process tests and certifies, but does not itself produce.” In other words, companies such as Google and Goldman Sachs hire applicants from Harvard or Williams because they assume that graduates from such schools posses the “combination of intelligence, motivation, and discipline” necessary for workplace success.

Selecting graduates with the highest GPAs from the top institutions reduces the screening costs that would rise if applicants