Question #9 (incorrect)

Valuation of Education is a research method that assesses the value of educational attainment; its goal is to identify both the actual monetary value of diplomas and degrees to their recipients, in terms of expected salaries, and to identify the monetary value of educated employees over less educated employees to employers. The findings of the Valuation of Education method have increasingly influenced hiring procedures within academia, government, and, to a lesser degree, business and finance.

Valuation of Education gathers its research by comparing individuals in the same job category, but at different levels of educational attainment. Although the connection between education and salary is well-known, the most surprising finding of the method is that the correlation between education and job proficiency is consistent, regardless of job category; in other words, more progress within the education system translates to a greater value of an employee to virtually any business. Moreover, a worker who holds a degree higher than that of a coworker earns a proportionally greater salary than his or her counterpart, regardless of skill, and this salary ratio remains relatively constant across job categories.

However, one question remains: are the economic gains made by the highly educated as identified by Valuation of Education methods commensurate with the increasing price of education itself, or are these salary increases mere gestures that allow the highly educated to justify immense expenditures of time and money in pursuit of pecuniary gains?

The costs of education indeed justify themselves: even the increasing costs of advanced degrees are earned back by the majority of employees, while many other methods by which employees attempt to raise their pay scale have not proven to legitimate their costs. This is true despite the fact that education is often applicable across occupational fields, while other methods of advancement are targeted to specific occupations. For example, professional development or on-the-job training impact neither salary nor job proficiency as much as do higher levels of educational attainment.

What is the primary concern of this passage?


(A) To evaluate whether the cost of education is commensurate to its value, through the application of the Valuation of Education research method, as well as to dispel common preconceptions.

(B) To dispel outstanding doubts about the findings of the Valuation of Education research method with regards to hiring practices in a variety of occupational fields.

(C) To present the influential findings of the Valuation of Education research method about educational attainment, job proficiency and salary, as well as to resolve an outstanding question.

(D) To provide evidence to justify the Valuation of Education method's finding that the highly educated are often rewarded with inflated salaries, despite having no greater worth to a company.

(E) To discuss the research findings of the Valuation of Education method with regards to on-the-job training, professional development, and business hiring procedures, as well as to note the widespread acceptance of these findings.