Ex-Tesla HR Head Weighs In on Value of College Degrees

Higher education qualifications are becoming less crucial in modern workplaces, with a quarter of employers telling Resume Templates they planned to remove bachelor’s degree requirements for some roles. 

Valerie Capers Workman, who previously served as Tesla’s head of human resources, however, believes that college is “more valuable today than it has ever been.”

Speaking at the Defining the Future conference at California State University, she said: “Do not let anyone, not a tech founder, not a headline, not a podcast host, convince you that your education was a waste. It was not.”

In particular, she says that liberal arts disciplines are becoming more relevant as AI plays a larger role in the workforce, saying: “In the age of AI, these disciplines are not ‘soft skills.’ They are the source code for the emotional intelligence, ethical reasoning, cultural fluency and critical thinking that machines will never have.”

Building skills for the future of work

Valerie’s former boss, Elon Musk, however, disagrees – having shared at the Satellite conference: “I think college is basically for fun and to prove that you can do your chores, but they’re not for learning.”

He also told attendees at a campaign rally in October 2024 that he believes the perceived value of college education is “somewhat overweighted.”

“Too many people spend four years, accumulate a ton of debt and often don't have useful skills that they can apply afterwards,” he continued. 

Many graduates are reporting feeling unprepared for the skills they will need in the world of work – with Pearson and AWS’ AI Readiness Report finding that just 14% of graduates believe they have achieved a high level of proficiency in applying AI tools in the workplace.

Alongside this, more than half of employers report that their main challenge when hiring is finding graduates with the right AI skills – which could slow AI adoption for businesses. 

To improve job prospects for college graduates, the research recommends that universities and employers become more aligned, by employers more clearly communicating their workforce needs and co-designing learning with educational partnerships. 

Tom ap Simon, President of Higher Education and Virtual Learning at Pearson, says that the schools that lead in AI readiness “will shape the future of workforce readiness,” sharing that “building an AI-ready workforce depends on structured, shared systems that amplify human skills and connect curriculum to real work.”

Are the humanities ‘more important than ever’?

While business leaders such as Elon Musk see higher education as unnecessary in the modern workplace, others agree with Valerie that it is more important than ever. 

Daniela Amodei, the Co-Founder and President of Anthropic, told ABC News: “I actually think studying the humanities is going to be more important than ever. A lot of these models are actually very good at STEM. 

“But I think this idea that there are things that make us uniquely human – understanding ourselves, understanding history, understanding what makes us tick –  I think that will always be really, really important. 

“And I think the ability to have critical thinking skills and learn how to interact with other people will be more important in the future, rather than less.”