The Case Against Education, 2017
Metadata
- Author: Bryan Caplan
Highlights
Schools build discipline by making students show up on time, sit still, keep their mouths shut, follow orders, and stay awake. Schools build social skills by making students cooperate, manage conflict, work as a team, dress nicely, and speak properly. The typical worker spends the day doing boring work in a hierarchical organization. Perhaps education acclimates children to their future role. — location: 1488
It’s not my fault education’s rewards hinge on graduation. It’s not my fault past academic performance strongly predicts graduation. It’s not my fault fine arts degrees pay poorly. It’s not my fault married women profit far more from education than single women. It’s not my fault so many graduates don’t work full time. — location: 3331
Technophiles would have a compelling case if education’s sole function were teaching job skills. Online education has clear pedagogical advantages over traditional education. Coursera, Khan Academy, Marginal Revolution University, and their rivals hire the best teachers in the world.47 Students can learn at their own pace—pausing whenever they need to reflect, rewinding whenever they need review, fast forwarding as soon as they master the material. Anyone who’s lost can drop a level without looking like a loser. Anyone’s who’s bored can jump a level without looking like a nerd. Online education is an awesome way to build human capital. Unfortunately, students aren’t hungry for human capital. They’re hungry for signals. — location: 4329
education signals more than brains and work ethic. It also signals conformity—submission to social expectations. This traps students in a catch-22: trying to unconventionally signal conformity signals nonconformity. In our society, you’re supposed to go to college if you value success. When otherwise promising teens refuse to attend, they demonstrate they don’t know or don’t care what they’re supposed to do. Protesting “Why can’t I signal my conformity online instead?” is further proof a kid can’t or won’t conform. In principle, social expectations can evolve over time. Still, as long as the first wave of students who jump ship from traditional to online education is weird, evolution will be slow at best. The revolution will begin when promising students say, “I’ve decided to drop out of school and study online” and adults unsarcastically respond, “Good idea!” — location: 4352