The case Against Education
From Bryan Caplan BlogI've been in school for the last 35 years - 21 years as a student, the rest as a professor. As a result, the Real World is almost completely foreign to me. I don't know how to do much of anything. While I had a few menial jobs in my teens, my first-hand knowledge of the world of work beyond the ivory tower is roughly zero.
I'm not alone. Most professors' experience is almost as narrow as mine. If you want to succeed in academia, the Real World is a distraction. I have a dream job for life because I excelled in my coursework year after year, won admission to prestigious schools, and published a couple dozen articles for other professors to read. That's what it takes - and that's all it takes.
Considering how studiously I've ignored the Real World, you might think that the Real World would return the favor by ignoring me. But it doesn't! I've influenced the Real World careers of thousands of students. How? With grades. At the end of every semester, I test my students to see how well they understand my courses, and grade them from A to F. Other professors do the same. And remarkably, employers care about our ivory tower judgments. Students with lots of A's finish and get pleasant, high-paid jobs. Students with a lots of F's don't finish and get unpleasant, low-paid jobs. If that.
.............................................
According to the signaling model, employers reward educational success because of what it shows ("signals") about the student. Good students tend to be smart, hard-working, and conformist - three crucial traits for almost any job. When a student excels in school, then, employers correctly infer that he's likely to be a good worker. What precisely did he study? What did he learn how to do? Mere details. As long as you were a good student, employers surmise that you'll quickly learn what you need to know on the job.
If you take a degree in Latin that does not matter at all if you are going to be a better lawyer/accountant or Banker why pay more to a college student with a degree vs person without a degree?
because the college degree is a signal. yes if this guy was able to take a boring degree in Latin he certainly can learn to do this job.
Let's hire someone with good marks and a degree in whatever.
Bryan Caplan argues with some reason that education does not matter at all to the way you are going to do your job it's only going to raise the salary for people with a degree and lower for the people without a degree. It's a waste of time for the society because people spend a lot of money and time in Colleges learning nothing useful for the way they will work in the future.
why not close the higher education system?
Share story
Controverso... Não se pode é defender, por um lado, que o emprego tende a diminuir e, por isso, tendencialmente só os trabalhos técnicos altamente especializados sobreviverão e, por outro, que se devia acabar com os cursos superiores que, justamente, formam técnicos altamente especializados. O exemplo oferecido, em tom de caricatura sobre cursos de latim, favorece o raciocínio, mas não me parece que se possa generalizar para promover o fim de todo (sublinho o "todo") o ensino superior.
ReplyDeleteagree it's better the doctor to attend college ! but in humanities i guess it's true. Higher education is just a signal
Delete