The Case Against Education

Last updated

The Case Against Education
The Case Against Education.jpg
Author Bryan Caplan
Audio read byAllan Robertson
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subject
  • Education
  • economics
Publisher Princeton University Press
Publication date
January 30, 2018
Media type
  • Print
  • Digital
  • Audiobook
Pages417 Hardcover
ISBN 978-0691174655

The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money [1] is a book written by libertarian economist Bryan Caplan and published in 2018 by Princeton University Press. Drawing on the economic concept of job market signaling and research in educational psychology, the book argues that much of higher education is very inefficient and has only a small effect in improving human capital, contrary to the conventional consensus in labor economics.

Contents

Caplan argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skills but to certify their intelligence, conscientiousness, and conformity—attributes that are valued by employers. He ultimately estimates that approximately 80% of individuals' return to education is the result of signaling, with the remainder due to human capital accumulation.

Summary

Human capital model

The foundation of the drive to increase educational attainment across the board is the human capital model of education, which began with the research of Gary Becker. [2] The model suggests that increasing educational attainment causes increased prosperity by endowing students with increased skills. As a consequence, subsidies to education are seen as a positive investment that increases economic growth and creates spillover effects by improving civic engagement, happiness, health, etc.

Present value of learning, adjusted for forgetting

The simple human capital model tends to assume that knowledge is retained indefinitely, while a ubiquitous theme in educational interventions is that "fadeout" (i.e., forgetting) reliably occurs. [3] To take a simple example, we may compute the present value of a marginal fact that increases a person's productivity by as:

where is the discount rate used to compute the present value. If is $100 and is 5%, then the present value of learning is $2,000. But this is at odds with the concept of fadeout. To correct for this, assume that the probability density function for retaining follows an exponential distribution—with the corresponding survival function . Then the present value of learning , accounting for fadeout, is given by:

Since the expected value of an exponential distribution is , we may tune this parameter based on assumptions about how long is retained. Below is a table showing what the present value is based on and the expected retention time of the fact:

Present Value of Learning , with Fadeout
3 Months6 Months1 Year2 Years3 Years5 Years10 Years
$24.69$48.78$95.24$181.82$260.87$400.00$666.67

Regardless of the retention time assumption, the present value of learning is significantly reduced.

Signaling model

The main alternative to the human capital model of education is the signaling model of education. The idea of job market signaling through educational attainment goes back to the work of Michael Spence. [4] The model Spence developed suggested that, even if a student did not gain any skills through an educational program, the program can still be useful so long as the signal from completing the program is correlated with traits that predict job performance.

Throughout the book, Caplan details a series of observations that suggest a significant role for signaling in the return to education:

Given the above signs of signaling, Caplan argues in ch. 5–6 [1] that the selfish return to education is greater than the social return to education, suggesting that greater educational attainment creates a negative externality (p. 198 [1] ). In other words, status is zero-sum; skill is not (p. 229 [1] ).

Cost-benefit analysis of going to college

For many students, Caplan argues that most of the negative social return to pursuing further education comes from the incursion of student debt and lost employment opportunities for students who are unlikely to complete college (p. 210-211, ch. 8 [1] ). He suggests that these students would be better served by vocational education.

Policy recommendations

Caplan advocates two major policy responses to the problem of signaling in education:

  1. Educational austerity
  2. Increased vocational education

The first recommendation is that government needs to sharply cut education funding, since public education spending in the United States across all levels tops $1 trillion annually. [13] The second recommendation is to encourage greater vocational education, because students who are unlikely to succeed in college should develop practical skills to function in the labor market. Caplan argues for an increased emphasis on vocational education that is similar in nature to the systems in Germany [14] and Switzerland. [15] [16]

Reviews

Positive

Mixed

Negative

See also

Related Research Articles

In mathematical optimization, the method of Lagrange multipliers is a strategy for finding the local maxima and minima of a function subject to equation constraints. It is named after the mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intensive and extensive properties</span> Properties (of systems or substances) which do/dont change as the systems size changes

Physical or chemical properties of materials and systems can often be categorized as being either intensive or extensive, according to how the property changes when the size of the system changes. The terms "intensive and extensive quantities" were introduced into physics by German mathematician Georg Helm in 1898, and by American physicist and chemist Richard C. Tolman in 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weibull distribution</span> Continuous probability distribution

In probability theory and statistics, the Weibull distribution is a continuous probability distribution. It models a broad range of random variables, largely in the nature of a time to failure or time between events. Examples are maximum one-day rainfalls and the time a user spends on a web page.

Population dynamics is the type of mathematics used to model and study the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Image segmentation</span> Partitioning a digital image into segments

In digital image processing and computer vision, image segmentation is the process of partitioning a digital image into multiple image segments, also known as image regions or image objects. The goal of segmentation is to simplify and/or change the representation of an image into something that is more meaningful and easier to analyze. Image segmentation is typically used to locate objects and boundaries in images. More precisely, image segmentation is the process of assigning a label to every pixel in an image such that pixels with the same label share certain characteristics.

In economics, hyperbolic discounting is a time-inconsistent model of delay discounting. It is one of the cornerstones of behavioral economics and its brain-basis is actively being studied by neuroeconomics researchers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temporal difference learning</span> Computer programming concept

Temporal difference (TD) learning refers to a class of model-free reinforcement learning methods which learn by bootstrapping from the current estimate of the value function. These methods sample from the environment, like Monte Carlo methods, and perform updates based on current estimates, like dynamic programming methods.

In statistics and information theory, a maximum entropy probability distribution has entropy that is at least as great as that of all other members of a specified class of probability distributions. According to the principle of maximum entropy, if nothing is known about a distribution except that it belongs to a certain class, then the distribution with the largest entropy should be chosen as the least-informative default. The motivation is twofold: first, maximizing entropy minimizes the amount of prior information built into the distribution; second, many physical systems tend to move towards maximal entropy configurations over time.

In mathematics, the Lebesgue constants (depending on a set of nodes and of its size) give an idea of how good the interpolant of a function (at the given nodes) is in comparison with the best polynomial approximation of the function (the degree of the polynomials are fixed). The Lebesgue constant for polynomials of degree at most n and for the set of n + 1 nodes T is generally denoted by Λn(T ). These constants are named after Henri Lebesgue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CIE 1931 color space</span> Color space defined by the CIE in 1931

The CIE 1931 color spaces are the first defined quantitative links between distributions of wavelengths in the electromagnetic visible spectrum, and physiologically perceived colors in human color vision. The mathematical relationships that define these color spaces are essential tools for color management, important when dealing with color inks, illuminated displays, and recording devices such as digital cameras. The system was designed in 1931 by the "Commission Internationale de l'éclairage", known in English as the International Commission on Illumination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diffusion MRI</span> Method of utilizing water in magnetic resonance imaging

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging is the use of specific MRI sequences as well as software that generates images from the resulting data that uses the diffusion of water molecules to generate contrast in MR images. It allows the mapping of the diffusion process of molecules, mainly water, in biological tissues, in vivo and non-invasively. Molecular diffusion in tissues is not random, but reflects interactions with many obstacles, such as macromolecules, fibers, and membranes. Water molecule diffusion patterns can therefore reveal microscopic details about tissue architecture, either normal or in a diseased state. A special kind of DWI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), has been used extensively to map white matter tractography in the brain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quasiconvex function</span>

In mathematics, a quasiconvex function is a real-valued function defined on an interval or on a convex subset of a real vector space such that the inverse image of any set of the form is a convex set. For a function of a single variable, along any stretch of the curve the highest point is one of the endpoints. The negative of a quasiconvex function is said to be quasiconcave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantile function</span> Statistical function that defines the quantiles of a probability distribution

In probability and statistics, the quantile function outputs the value of a random variable such that its probability is less than or equal to an input probability value. Intuitively, the quantile function associates with a range at and below a probability input the likelihood that a random variable is realized in that range for some probability distribution. It is also called the percentile function, percent-point function or inverse cumulative distribution function.

In mathematics, the spectral theory of ordinary differential equations is the part of spectral theory concerned with the determination of the spectrum and eigenfunction expansion associated with a linear ordinary differential equation. In his dissertation, Hermann Weyl generalized the classical Sturm–Liouville theory on a finite closed interval to second order differential operators with singularities at the endpoints of the interval, possibly semi-infinite or infinite. Unlike the classical case, the spectrum may no longer consist of just a countable set of eigenvalues, but may also contain a continuous part. In this case the eigenfunction expansion involves an integral over the continuous part with respect to a spectral measure, given by the Titchmarsh–Kodaira formula. The theory was put in its final simplified form for singular differential equations of even degree by Kodaira and others, using von Neumann's spectral theorem. It has had important applications in quantum mechanics, operator theory and harmonic analysis on semisimple Lie groups.

Twisting properties in general terms are associated with the properties of samples that identify with statistics that are suitable for exchange.

In statistics and machine learning, lasso is a regression analysis method that performs both variable selection and regularization in order to enhance the prediction accuracy and interpretability of the resulting statistical model. It was originally introduced in geophysics, and later by Robert Tibshirani, who coined the term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poisson distribution</span> Discrete probability distribution

In probability theory and statistics, the Poisson distribution is a discrete probability distribution that expresses the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space if these events occur with a known constant mean rate and independently of the time since the last event. It is named after French mathematician Siméon Denis Poisson. The Poisson distribution can also be used for the number of events in other specified interval types such as distance, area, or volume. It plays an important role for discrete-stable distributions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marchenko–Pastur distribution</span> Distribution of singular values of large rectangular random matrices

In the mathematical theory of random matrices, the Marchenko–Pastur distribution, or Marchenko–Pastur law, describes the asymptotic behavior of singular values of large rectangular random matrices. The theorem is named after Soviet mathematicians Vladimir Marchenko and Leonid Pastur who proved this result in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrapped exponential distribution</span> Probability distribution

In probability theory and directional statistics, a wrapped exponential distribution is a wrapped probability distribution that results from the "wrapping" of the exponential distribution around the unit circle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparse dictionary learning</span> Representation learning method

Sparse dictionary learning is a representation learning method which aims at finding a sparse representation of the input data in the form of a linear combination of basic elements as well as those basic elements themselves. These elements are called atoms and they compose a dictionary. Atoms in the dictionary are not required to be orthogonal, and they may be an over-complete spanning set. This problem setup also allows the dimensionality of the signals being represented to be higher than the one of the signals being observed. The above two properties lead to having seemingly redundant atoms that allow multiple representations of the same signal but also provide an improvement in sparsity and flexibility of the representation.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Caplan, Bryan (2018). The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0691174655.
  2. Becker, Gary S. (1962). "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis" (PDF). Journal of Political Economy. 70 (5): 9–49. doi:10.1086/258724. ISSN   0022-3808. JSTOR   1829103. S2CID   153979487.
  3. Cascio, Elizabeth U; Staiger, Douglas O (2012). "Knowledge, Tests, and Fadeout in Educational Interventions". NBER Working Paper No. 18038. doi: 10.3386/w18038 . S2CID   117717136.
  4. Spence, Michael (1973). "Job Market Signaling". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 87 (3): 355–374. doi:10.2307/1882010. ISSN   0033-5533. JSTOR   1882010.
  5. Ree, Malcolm James; Earles, James A. (1992). "Intelligence Is the Best Predictor of Job Performance". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 1 (3): 86–89. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep10768746. ISSN   0963-7214. JSTOR   20182140. S2CID   145352062.
  6. Gottfredson, Linda S. (January 1, 1997). "Why g matters: The complexity of everyday life". Intelligence. Special Issue Intelligence and Social Policy. 24 (1): 79–132. doi:10.1016/S0160-2896(97)90014-3. ISSN   0160-2896.
  7. Deary, Ian J.; Strand, Steve; Smith, Pauline; Fernandes, Cres (January 1, 2007). "Intelligence and educational achievement". Intelligence. 35 (1): 13–21. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2006.02.001. ISSN   0160-2896.
  8. Barrick, Murray R.; Mount, Michael K. (1991). "The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Job Performance: A Meta-Analysis". Personnel Psychology. 44 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x. ISSN   1744-6570. S2CID   144689146.
  9. Specht, Jule; Egloff, Boris; Schmukle, Stefan C. (2011). "Stability and change of personality across the life course: the impact of age and major life events on mean-level and rank-order stability of the Big Five" (PDF). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 101 (4): 862–882. doi:10.1037/a0024950. ISSN   1939-1315. PMID   21859226.
  10. Plomin, Robert (2012). "Genetics: How intelligence changes with age". Nature. 482 (7384): 165–166. Bibcode:2012Natur.482..165P. doi: 10.1038/482165a . ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   22318596. S2CID   4334163.
  11. Fuente, Angel de la; Doménech, Rafael (2006). "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?". Journal of the European Economic Association. 4 (1): 1–36. doi:10.1162/jeea.2006.4.1.1. ISSN   1542-4774. S2CID   11547865.
  12. Caplan, Bryan (2008). The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN   9780691138732.
  13. Snyder, Thomas D.; de Brey, Cristobal; Dillow, Sally A. (2017). Digest of Education Statistics, 2017 (PDF). National Center for Education Statistics. p. 13.
  14. Jacoby, Tamar (October 16, 2014). "Why Germany Is So Much Better at Training Its Workers". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  15. Bachmann, Helena. "Who Needs College? The Swiss Opt for Vocational School". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  16. Pethokoukis, James (March 16, 2018). "The case against education: A long-read Q&A with Bryan Caplan". AEI. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  17. Hanson, Robin (January 18, 2018). "Overcoming Bias : Read The Case Against Education". www.overcomingbias.com. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  18. Riley, Naomi Schaefer (January 15, 2018). "Review: Deciding Against the Paper Chase". WSJ. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  19. Epstein, Gene (October 19, 2018). "Compulsory Futility". City Journal.
  20. Carter, Stephen L. (December 20, 2018). "My 15 Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2018". Bloomberg Opinion.
  21. Cowen, Tyler (May 9, 2018). "My Conversation with Bryan Caplan". Marginal Revolution. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  22. Somin, Ilya (March 24, 2018). "Bryan Caplan's Case Against Education". Reason.com. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  23. Carr, Sarah (February 16, 2018). "Is education a waste of time and money?". The Washington Post.
  24. Illing, Sean (February 16, 2018). "Why this economist thinks public education is mostly pointless". Vox. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  25. Kim, Joshua (October 18, 2018). "The Case Against 'The Case Against Education' | Inside Higher Ed". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved August 14, 2019.

Further reading