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

by Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan (Afterword)

Why we need to stop wasting public funds on education

Despite being immensely popular-and immensely lucrative-education is grossly overrated. Now with a new afterword by Bryan Caplan, this explosive book argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skills but to signal the qualities of a good employee. Learn why students hunt for easy As only to forget most of what they learn after the final exam, why decades of growing access to education have not resulted in better jobs for average workers, how employers reward workers for costly schooling they rarely ever use, and why cutting education spending is the best remedy. Romantic notions about education being "good for the soul" must yield to careful research and common sense-The Case against Education points the way.

• ISBN10: 0691196451
• ISBN13: 9780691196459
• Publish Date: 20 August 2019 (first published 16 January 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Princeton University Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 424
• Language: English
• URL: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/30552.html

Reviews

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Initial Thoughts: I don't disagree with Caplan's points about credential inflation and education often being a matter of "signalling" skills rather than a matter of learning useful things (or even non-useful things). However, the book is so repetitive and unclearly structured that I can't give this as many stars as I want to for its thought-provoking ideas. Read his article "What Is College Good For?" in the Atlantic instead of the book, and you'll get the ideas far more succinctly.

*As a side note, I would point out that Caplan cites an enormous amount of studies from people in various fields to support his claims. He does lay out sort of sample scenarios to make points, but I disagree with anyone whose issue with the book is that it is too "anecdotal." Obviously, no one has to agree with Caplan's points, but I think suggesting that the book isn't based in research, as some reviewers have done, is odd.