The CEOs of Home Depot and Walmart U.S. penned a joint column in The Wall Street Journal urging employers to stop valuing college degrees and start valuing skills when hiring.
In the op-ed published Tuesday and titled “Not Everyone Needs a College Degree,” Home Depot’s Ted Decker and Walmart U.S. branch’s John Furner detail how they “are helping build a skills-based economy.”
“A skills-based approach to employment is critical in a country where 62% of adults don’t have a college degree,” the men wrote.
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With student loan debt ballooning to nearly $1.8 trillion, the men reject the idea instilled in many Americans that achieving the American dream must include obtaining a college degree.
“The American dream isn’t dead, but the path to reach it might look different for job seekers today than it did for their parents,” Decker and Furner wrote. “While a college …