The Case against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money

492 Pages·2018·7.65 MB·English

by  Bryan Caplan

The Case against Education
The Case against Education
WHY THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY
Bryan Caplan
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
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All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978-0-691-17465-5
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Minion
Pro Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my homeschoolers,
Aidan and Tristan.
You are the case for education, my sons.
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
LIST OF TABLES xi
PREFACE xiii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1 - The Magic of Education 9
CHAPTER 2 - The Puzzle Is Real: The Ubiquity of
Useless Education 31
CHAPTER 3 - The Puzzle Is Real: The Handsome Rewards of
Useless Education 69
CHAPTER 4 - The Signs of Signaling: In Case You’re Still
Not Convinced 96
CHAPTER 5 - Who Cares If It’s Signaling? The Selfish Return
to Education 124
CHAPTER 6 - We Care If It’s Signaling: The Social Return
to Education 165
CHAPTER 7 - The White Elephant in the Room: We Need Lots
Less Education 195
CHAPTER 8 - 1 > 0: We Need More Vocational Education 225
CHAPTER 9 - Nourishing Mother: Is Education Good for the Soul? 238
CHAPTER 10 - Five Chats on Education and Enlightenment 262
Conclusion 285
TECHNICAL APPENDIX: COMPLETION PROBABILITY AND STUDENT QUALITY 291
NOTES 295
REFERENCES 337
INDEX 381
Illustrations
FIGURE 2.1: Average Years of Coursework Passed by High School Graduates
(2005)
FIGURE 2.2: Math Coursework Passed by High School Graduates (2005)
FIGURE 2.3: NAAL Breakdown: American Adults (2003)
FIGURE 2.4: NAAL Breakdown: American Adults by Education (2003)
FIGURE 2.5: The Level and Origin of Foreign Language Competence
FIGURE 3.1: Two Ability Bias Scenarios
FIGURE 3.2: College Grads’ Earnings: How Selected Majors Compare to
Education Majors
FIGURE 3.3: Ability-Corrected Earnings for College Majors vs. High School
Grads
FIGURE 3.4: Unemployment Rates by Education (2011)
FIGURE 4.1: Education Premiums in Selected Nonacademic Occupations
FIGURE 4.2: Median Education Premiums by Occupational Category
FIGURE 4.3: Effect of a Year of National Education on National Income
FIGURE 5.1: The Effect of Education on Compensation for a Good Student
(2011)
FIGURE 5.2: The Effect of Education on Unemployment for a Good Student
FIGURE 5.3: The Selfish Return to Education for Good Students
FIGURE 5.4: The Naive Selfish Return to Education for All Students
FIGURE 5.5: The Effect of Education on Compensation by Student Ability
(2011)
FIGURE 5.6: Degree Completion Probability by Student Ability
FIGURE 5.7: Selfish Degree Returns by Student Ability
FIGURE 5.8: Freshmen’s Selfish Degree Returns by lfish Degree Returns by
Major
FIGURE 5.9: Freshmen Selfish Degree Returns by College Quality
FIGURE 5.10: College Freshmen’s Selfish Degree Returns by Out-of-Pocket
Costs
FIGURE 5.11: School Lovers’ and School Haters’ Selfish Degree Returns
FIGURE 5.12: Men and Women’s Selfish Degree Returns
FIGURE 5.13: Married Men and Women’s Selfish Degree Returns
FIGURE 5.14: Workforce Participation for 25-to-64-Year-Olds, by Education
(2011)
FIGURE 5.15: Selfish Degree Returns, Correcting for Workforce Participation
FIGURE 6.1: Two Signaling Scenarios
FIGURE 6.2: The Effect of Education on Compensation and Productivity for a
Good Student (2011)
FIGURE 6.3: Average Annual Social Cost of Crime by Education (2011
Dollars)
FIGURE 6.4: Degree Returns to Education for Good Students with Cautious
Signaling
FIGURE 6.5: Social Degree Returns to Education with Cautious Signaling
FIGURE 6.6: Social Degree Returns to Education with Reasonable Signaling
FIGURE 6.7: Social Degree Returns to Education for Excellent Students by
Signaling Share
FIGURE 6.8: Social Degree Returns to Education for Good Students by
Signaling Share
FIGURE 6.9: Social Degree Returns to Education for Fair Students by
Signaling Share
FIGURE 6.10: Social Degree Returns to Education for Poor Students by
Signaling Share
FIGURE 6.11: Social Degree Returns to Education by Sex with Reasonable
Signaling
FIGURE 7.1: Total U.S. Government Education Spending (in $B)
FIGURE 7.2: Total U.S. Government Education Spending in Perspective
FIGURE 7.3: Education Premiums Required for 4% Social Return
FIGURE A1: High School Completion Probabilities by Student Ability
FIGURE A2: Four-Year High School Completion Probabilities by Student
Ability and Sex
FIGURE A3: Transfer-Corrected Four-Year College Completion Probabilities
by Student Ability and Sex
FIGURE A4: Two-Year Master’s Completion Probabilities by Student Ability
and Sex