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Economists Dont Know Crap About Education
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/02/20/economists-dont-know-crap-about-education
His argument goes something like this: the only value of an education is getting a job after graduation.
Businesses only care about school because they think it signifies whether prospective employees will be good or bad at their jobs. And students dont care about learning they only care about appearing to have learned something to lure prospective employers. Once youre hired, if you dont have the skills, employers have an incentive to give you on the job training. Getting an education is just about getting a foot in the door. Its all just a charade.
Therefore, we should cut education funding and put kids to work in high school where they can learn how to do the jobs theyll need to survive.
No wonder economics is sometimes called The Dismal Science. Can you imagine having such a dim view of the world where THAT load of crap makes sense?
Were all just worker drones and education is the human equivalent of a mating dance or brilliant plumage but instead of attracting the opposite sex, were attracting a new boss.
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)of Caplan's mascot, the preteen Roman slave lead mine worker.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Almost everyone pays lip service to the glories of education, but actions speak louder than words. Ponder this: If a student wants to study at Princeton, he doesn't really need to apply or pay tuition. He can simply show up and start taking classes. As a professor, I assure you that we make near-zero effort to stop unofficial education; indeed, the rare, earnestly curious student touches our hearts. At the end of four years at Princeton, though, the guerrilla student would lack one precious thing: a diploma. The fact that almost no one tries this route saving hundreds of thousands of dollars along the way is a strong sign that students understand the value of certification over actual learning.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-caplan-education-credentials-20180211-story.html
Good example of a disconnect: Singer is talking about K-12 education, while Caplan is talking about higher education. It is the value of the latter that is most suspect.
dawg
(10,624 posts)that aren't directly useful to their employers.