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The Case Against Education
- Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 11 hrs
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The Case Against Education
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Summary
Why we need to stop wasting public funds on education
Despite being immensely popular - and immensely lucrative - education is grossly overrated. In this explosive book, Bryan Caplan argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skill but to certify their intelligence, work ethic, and conformity - in other words, to signal the qualities of a good employee.
Learn why students hunt for easy A's and casually forget most of what they learn after the final exam, why decades of growing access to education have not resulted in better jobs for the average worker but instead in runaway credential inflation, how employers reward workers for costly schooling they rarely if ever use, and why cutting education spending is the best remedy.
Caplan draws on the latest social science to show how the labor market values grades over knowledge and why the more education your rivals have, the more you need to impress employers. He explains why graduation is our society's top conformity signal and why even the most useless degrees can certify employability. He advocates two major policy responses. The first is educational austerity. Government needs to sharply cut education funding to curb this wasteful rat race. The second is more vocational education, because practical skills are more socially valuable than teaching students how to outshine their peers.
Romantic notions about education being "good for the soul" must yield to careful research and common sense - The Case Against Education points the way.
Cover design by Leslie Flis.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about The Case Against Education
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jonathan
- 25-07-18
Radically changed the way I think about education
The performance is very good and the content is extremely interesting, well researched and thought-provoking.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Luca Nicotra
- 07-12-19
How good is the return on investment on education?
A host of persuasive arguments backed up by in-depth research. Very valuable to anyone interested in education.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. D. Whittaker
- 10-08-18
Very thought provoking and persuasively argued.
While I don't agree with all Caplan says - he presents a very utilitarian, functionalist view of education that almost exclusively foregrounds economics and business - his arguments are well made and starkly worrying. Great food for thought and performed well by the narrator.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Tony
- 22-06-19
Dr Caplan does his iconoclastic thing
Brian Caplan has a talent for finding sacred cows to slay. He backs his claims up with data, in a way that should be much more common. One criticism is that he assumes more markets operate like perfect competition than do in reality.
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- Teao
- 24-09-20
Don't let the title put you off
An in depth and honest discussion of the tangible and intangible merits and downsides of modern education and the magnitude of these factors.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Davide V.
- 10-10-19
A thought provoking tour de force
If education interests you and you like debating, this book is for you. It dares going in really tricky territory and brings forward many interesting arguments.
Having said that, the book's weakest spot is that it seems to be in love with its own contrarian nature (for instance the part on policy reform feels simplistic, adds little to the book and alienates the readership - it could have been expressed differently), which makes it more difficult to gloss over the various flaws in the arguments. Anyway when a book inspires you to sit down and write your own thoughts on a complex topic, as this one did for me, I think it's ultimately worth recommending.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Montberte
- 27-04-19
Fascinating viewpoint
Whilst I do not agree with all of this book it is a fascinating read and challenges many preconceived perceptions on the "value" of education to both individuals and society. In my opinion we certainly need to review the "Human Capital" worth of the content of our educational courses as much of it is no longer fit for purpose UNLESS we are only looking at what the writer calls signalling. Where I disagree is the worth of arts and creativity education although I do agree that much of the contents of existing curricula in these areas is only of a signalling value. This does not, however, devalue the potential for these courses in a changing world re their potential to deliver some of the current skills gap requirements......
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Loarn Paterson
- 01-01-23
An original premise presented well.
I was interested to learn about the real significance of traditional educational choices in the modern world.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Mr. John Mitchell
- 09-02-21
one good point drawn out to fill a book
not much more to add that the title. read the first 40 pages then move on to a different book is my advice.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Johann Muller
- 06-02-24
I quite frankly expected more
Without virtue signalling 80% of this book is gone. The book does not explain, and doesn’t pretend to, the success of entrepreneurs who break off their studies early. I feel disappointed by the book because arguments were too repetitive, There were too many statistics, and it simply took too long to make its point. And then I was surprised by the point made (virtue signaling), but did not think it was that worth making.
I do think the current education system is largely lacking, also here in Europe. I do think people should learn far more life skills during education, but I don’t think this book makes a clear argument for that, and I am sorry about that.
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