“For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men’s blood. I only speak right on;
I tell you that which you yourselves do know.’’
—Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (285)
Well. . .I think Caplan ‘will stir men’s blood’ with this work. Why?
‘I say what you already know’! What! How insulting!
Caplan’s conclusion is that ‘higher education’ serves as ‘signal’ for employers, and does not serve the educated. Why?
“From the standpoint of most teachers, right up to and including the level of teachers of college undergraduates, the ideal student is well behaved, unaggressive, docile, patient, meticulous, and empathetic in the sense of intuiting the response to the teacher that is most likely to please the teacher.’’ (14)
—Richard Posner
‘Signal’ for perfect corporate ball-bearing, round and round with no squeaking! Why so valuable to business?
“The road to academic success is paved with the trinity of intelligence, conscientiousness, and conformity. The stronger your academic record, the greater employers’ confidence you have the whole package. Why do employers seek this package? Because the road to academic success and the road to job success are paved with the same materials. An intelligent worker learns quickly and deeply. A conscientious worker labors until the job’s done right. A conformist worker obeys superiors and cooperates with teammates. If you lack the right stuff to succeed in school, you probably lack the right stuff to succeed in the labor market.’’ (18)
Right! Well . . .
What about just the wonderful goal of - just ‘teaching how to think’?
“Transfer researchers usually begin their careers as idealists. Before studying educational psychology, they take their power to “teach students how to think” for granted.’’
Who wouldn’t?
“When they discover the professional consensus against transfer, they think they can overturn it. Eventually, though, young researchers grow sadder and wiser. The scientific evidence wears them down—and their firsthand experience as educators finishes the job. Hear the pedagogical odyssey of psychologist Douglas Detterman:
When I began teaching, I thought it was important to make things as hard as possible for students so they would discover the principles for themselves. I thought the discovery of principles was a fundamental skill that students needed to learn and transfer to new situations. Now I view education, even graduate education, as the learning of information.’’
How did he adjust to the real classroom, with actual students?
“I try to make it as easy for students as possible. Where before I was ambiguous about what a good paper was, I now provide examples of the best papers from past classes. Before, I expected students to infer the general conclusion from specific examples. Now I provide the general conclusion and support it with specific examples. In general, I subscribe to the principle that you should teach people exactly what you want them to learn in a situation as close as possible to the one in which the learning will be applied. I don’t count on transfer and I don’t try to promote it except by explicitly pointing out where taught skills may be applied.’’ (58)
Who can deny it?
CHAPTER 1 -The Magic of Education
CHAPTER 2 -The Puzzle Is Real: The Ubiquity of Useless Education
CHAPTER 3 -The Puzzle Is Real: The Handsome Rewards of Useless Education
CHAPTER 4 -The Signs of Signaling: In Case You’re Still Not Convinced
CHAPTER 5 -Who Cares If It’s Signaling? The Selfish Return to Education
CHAPTER 6 -We Care If It’s Signaling: The Social Return to Education
CHAPTER 7 -The White Elephant in the Room: We Need Lots Less Education
CHAPTER 8 - We Need More Vocational Education
CHAPTER 9 -Nourishing Mother: Is Education Good for the Soul?
CHAPTER 10 -Five Chats on Education and Enlightenment
One fantastic, fascinating, marvelous feature . . .
“Though I can heed everyone, I cannot please everyone. Rather than try to placate any one faction, this chapter brings them all together for a battle royale.’’
‘’The following dialogues are inspired by three decades of arguments about education. I’m the only real character. The rest are archetypes, composites—though hopefully not caricatures—of my favorite critics. The Cast -
Bryan Caplan, professor of economics at George Mason University. Highest credential: Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.
James Cooper, freshman at the University of Kansas; major: undeclared. Highest credential: diploma from Topeka High School.
Frederick Dodd, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, blogger for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Highest credential: M.A. in journalism from New York University.
Alan Lang, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Highest credential: Ph.D. in economics from MIT.
Gillian Morgan, freelance tech journalist. Highest credential: B.S. in computer science from UCLA.
Cynthia Ragan, English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, New Jersey. Highest credential: B.A. in English from the College of New Jersey.
Derek Romano, recent high school dropout. Highest credential: none.
Gretchen Simpson, student loan activist. Highest credential: M.A. in sociology from the University of Florida.
Daria Stein, entrepreneur and parent of a high school junior. Highest credential: B.S. in engineering from the University of Texas.’’ (262)
This part is so. . .so. . .cool. I hope other writers copy this technique. What a gift. This chapter alone worth the price of the book!
Why Caplan’s conclusion so difficult, so painful to the ear?
“If research and common sense are both on my side, who’s the defendant? The party line—what we’re supposed to believe about education. You’ve been enmeshed in the irrational exuberance since preschool.
“School prepares us for our future.”
“School is fun.”
“Nothing is more important than education.”
“We’ve all heard it, and we’ve all repeated it. If the party line is so false, why is dissent so scarce?
Social Desirability Bias. Calling school a rat race verges on nihilism. When students challenge the party line, teachers and parents get upset. When graduates challenge it, they seem immature. Even those who don’t care to preen don’t want to get stomped.”
“Education’s like John Gotti, the legendary “Teflon Don”: guilty as sin, but everyone’s petrified to testify against it. The Case against Education aims to reassure the witnesses. Standing up to Social Desirability Bias is inherently scary, but you’re not alone. Most people who reflect on their time in school privately agree with you. Research in economics, psychology, sociology, and education itself has your back. Testifying against education is safer than it looks.’’ (286)
Wow!
Another painful observation . . .
“College graduates often proudly name-drop their alma mater, but few realize the phrase contains a worldview. In Latin, “alma mater” means “nourishing mother.” A rich metaphor.’’
“A nourishing mother doesn’t merely teach you practical skills or help you land a well-paid job. She nurtures your whole person, teaches you right from wrong, and shows you the magic of life. As William Bowen, former president of Princeton, and Derek Bok, former president of Harvard, attest: Education is a special, deeply political, almost sacred civic activity. It is not merely a technical enterprise—providing facts to the untutored. Inescapably, it is a moral and aesthetic enterprise—expressing to impressionable minds a set of convictions about how most nobly to live in the world.’’ (238)
‘Special, deeply political, sacred activity’! This is really a secular religion, as many scholars (J L Talmon, Isaiah Berlin, Herbert Butterfield, Carlton Hayes, etc.) concluded decades ago; faith, trust, ‘worldview’, secular priesthood, holy days, sacrifice, and transferring the will of God to ‘will of the people’, all this replaces the ‘old’ Judeo/Christian system with the ‘new’ Political/scientism one.
Caplan writing for the general reader, although careful and scholarly. Includes enough charts, graphs, etc., to appeal to academics (I skipped most).
Easy to absorb and clear to the ear.
Sounds closer to a friendly talk than a academic essay.
About six hundred excellent notes (linked).
More than eighty pages of references (one thousand?) most with links. Tremendous scholarship!
Fifteen page extensive index (linked). Great!
(See also - “Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes’’ by Jacques Ellul; “The Measure Of Man’’ by Joseph Wood Krutch. Both present fascinating insights into modern education.)
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Top reviews from other countries
Pedro Andrés Rangel Walteros
It should be titled "the case against schooling"
Reviewed in Canada on January 2, 2021
David Didau
Fascinating, well argued and mostly right
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 18, 2019
tyaki
What is the most important is how we deal with Overrated Education.
Reviewed in Japan on August 5, 2023Alberto Zaragoza Comendador
It's not your imagination - school really is a waste
Reviewed in Spain on January 23, 2018