There are many ways in which Congress falls short of representing the American population. For example, 22% of members of the 116th congress are racial or ethnic minorities, even though non-whites are 39% of the country. Women are approximately 25% of congress, despite being 51% of the population. But perhaps the most remarkable identity difference between members of congress and the country they represent is on a different axis: education. 5% of members of congress do not have a 4-year college degree. 65% of Americans do not have a 4-year degree. Of course, we know that persons without a college degree are scarcely found in a broad range of lead institutions—including courts, newspapers, universities—where consequential decisions are made, or where the ideas and stories that inform those decisions are articulated.
Now there are many reasons, some good, for this discrepancy. We may want our elected leaders to be well educated, presuming that that education provides wisdom and perspective that has utility in governance. We know that to have a career in universities or media organizations one has to have gone to college, both to achieve the credentials that have one accepted into the relevant “guild”, and simply because everyone in those institutions does, making this a required “badge” for admission.
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