Commentary and Debate/Commentaire et débat.

The article presents a comment on the article "Differential Effects of University and Community College Education on Occupational Status Attainment in Ontario," by Paul Anisef, Fredrick D. Ashbury, and Anton H. Turrittin that appeared in the January 1992 issue of the "Canadian Journal of Sociology." According to Anisef, Ashbury, and Turrittin (hereafter AAT) argue that the schools where people go do matter. They show that university graduates do better than college graduates in attaining high status jobs. That is hardly surprising. The journal "Statistics Canada," annually publishes tables showing the different incomes of women and men who have attained various educational levels. What makes AAT's paper important is their attempt to explain how education links to paid work. They first suggest that others have erred by concentrating on years of schooling rather than on type of schooling. They then show that type of schooling makes a difference to a person's occupational attainment, net of factors like social origin, expectations, first job, and sex. Finally they argue that their central finding can be understood to result from credentialing processes.