Bryan Caplan argues that education much past early high school is mainly to signal to employers that you'll sit and listen like a good replaceable robot. Unless you're going to teach, when was the last time that high school physics was useful (never for me)? So why do we require students learn all this stuff they'll never use in their lives?
Caplan says it's all about signalling, and if you sit longer for more years of school you signal better and employers like someone that will sit down and do what they're told.
- Socially speaking, this book argues that our education system is a big waste of time and money. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=146))
- Note: ;;purpose
- Learning doesn’t have to be useful. Learning doesn’t have to be inspirational. When learning is neither useful nor inspirational, though, how can we call it anything but wasteful? ([Location 199](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=199))
- Note: And he feels this is what our schooling mostly is, wasteful in regards to the future life of those participating. I felt much like this in high school
- When this book defends the signaling theory of education, similarly, it does not claim all education is signaling. It claims a significant fraction of education is signaling. ([Location 225](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=225))
- Note: Signaling that you're productive and can focus because you finishesd a degree
- If education is all signaling, however, a fall in average education leaves our skills—and the wealth of the world—unchanged. In fact, cutbacks enrich the world by conserving valuable time and resources. ([Location 248](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=248))
- Note: It also stops the race to get a better degree and signal higher. This turns into a race like Trista Harris describes
- “Physical Education”? ([Location 318](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=318))
- Note: But our body health is important to living well.
- Yet they use academic track records to decide whom to hire and how much to pay. ([Location 362](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=362))
- Note: Gladwell noted similar mismatch in that podcast about the LSAT
- The labor market doesn’t pay you for the useless subjects you master; it pays you for the preexisting traits you reveal by mastering them. ([Location 378](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=378))
- Note: The signal. Does my reading and writing signal something then?
- Signaling models ([Location 395](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=395))
- Note: ;;define
- This book’s goal is to emancipate the signaling model from its ghetto—then use the theory to explain the mismatched marriage between school and work. ([Location 430](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=430))
- Note: ;;purpose to show signalling is wht education is about
- Why is educational signaling so central? An initially tempting answer: good jobs are intellectually demanding, and education is just a signal of intelligence. ([Location 435](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=435))
- education also signals conformity—the worker’s grasp of and submission to social expectations. ([Location 457](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=457))
- Employers are looking for people who conform to the folkways of today’s workplace—people who look, talk, and act like modern model workers. ([Location 464](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=464))
- Note: Signaling Is all about showing you conform to cultural expectations
- Education signals a package of socially desirable strengths. People at the top of their class usually have the trifecta: intelligent, conscientious, and conformist. ([Location 486](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=486))
- Note: Unlike signaling intelligence with blogging or being a go getter by running your own business
- The process is self-reinforcing: ([Location 518](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=518))
- Note: ;;summarize this process
- To signal you’re the real deal, a hardworking team player must outlast the posers and wannabes. ([Location 575](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=575))
- Note: And the race and years to outlast keep getting longer
- Can we reconcile the skills students acquire before graduation with the payoffs workers enjoy after graduation? ([Location 727](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=727))
- Note: Do the skills you get at school translate to earning potential? Or is it just about a piece of paper that gains you $
- Every school teaches a mix of useful skills and filler, of “wheat” and “chaff.” The crucial question is: What’s today’s mix? 90% wheat and 10% chaff? 50/50? 20/80? While we’ll never perfectly measure the breakdown, the basic facts are a good place to start. ([Location 732](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=732))
- Note: It felt like lots of my eucation in high school was chaff
- fadeout: ([Location 911](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=911))
- Note: ;;define fadeout
- The point is not merely that college students are bad at reasoning about everyday events. The point is that college students are bad at reasoning about everyday events despite years of coursework in science and math. ([Location 1236](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=1236))
- Note: School does almost nothing to teach yhou how to think
- If what you learn in school lacks obvious real-world applications, you’ll probably never apply ([Location 1329](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=1329))
- Note: And thus you'll forget it
- Head Start raises preschoolers’ IQs by a few points, but gains disappear by the end of kindergarten. ([Location 1399](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=1399))
- Note: So early special preschool is all about making prents feel good because there is no lasting bemefit for kids
- If schools teach few job skills, transfer of learning is mostly wishful thinking, and the effect of education on intelligence is largely hollow, how on earth do human beings get good at their jobs? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall: practice. ([Location 1416](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=1416))
- Why would education be any better at readying us for the world of work than the world of work itself? ([Location 1447](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=1447))
- Note: To get ready for work, why not do actual work instead of school?
- The average GPA is now 3.2.102 Instead of making students conform and submit, college showers students with acceptance. ([Location 1482](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=1482))
- Note: Maps with student as the customer in Death of Expertise. We must keep customers happy
- The case for deregulation is strong; do we really need government to protect us from bad barbers, florists, or decorators? ([Location 1913](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=1913))
- Note: No its about restricting supply by the organizations to keep earnings up
- The signaling model, thankfully, is ready, willing, and able to pick up the slack. ([Location 2053](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=2053))
- Note: He looked at all the detractors of signalling theory in education and sbowed that the benefot of education is mostly that it signals youre a worker. The education you acquore is mostly irrelevant
- In our society, graduation is a sacred milestone. Graduation tells employers, “I take social norms seriously—and have the brains and work ethic to comply.” Quitting tells employers, “I scorn social norms—or lack the brains and work ethic to comply.” If you graduate, the signaling model says the market will lump you with the winners and pay you a special diploma bonus—often called a “sheepskin effect” because diplomas used to be printed on sheepskin. If you quit, the signaling model says the market will lump you with the losers and withhold the sheepskin’s reward. After all, employers won’t know why you failed to finish your degree. They’ll only know you failed. ([Location 2083](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=2083))
- Note: That seems like a stellar summary of most of the book
- Rising education automatically sparks credential inflation; as credentials proliferate, you must study harder and longer to convince employers to hire you. ([Location 2233](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=2233))
- Note: See Kids These Days for the education arms race
- Malemployment is not mere “man bites dog” hype designed to terrify English majors’ parents. The amount of education you need to get a job really has risen more than the amount of education you need to do a job. Bartender, cashier, cook, janitor, security guard, and waiter are now common jobs for college grads. ([Location 2305](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=2305))
- Note: Kids these days
- Incidentally, the marriage market is probably the strongest reason to pay for expensive private schools. Going to Harvard may not get you a better job but almost certainly puts you in an exclusive dating pool for life. ([Location 3180](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3180))
- Practical Guidance for Prudent Students ([Location 3218](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3218))
- Note: Wht follows is who should go to what level of school
- in 1950, only 33% of adult males had finished high school, but male workforce participation was higher than today. ([Location 3526](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3526))
- Note: The race to be ahead keeps getting longer
- The genes your parents give you at conception have a much larger effect on your success than all the advantages your parents give you after conception. ([Location 3609](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3609))
- Note: Nature vs Nurture and here nirture wins clearly
- does not mean schools fail to improve their students. They do. What it means, rather, is that students typically die of old age long before society recoups the initial outlay of time and money. ([Location 3680](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3680))
- Because signaling is a redistributive game, serving you a larger piece of the pie without enlarging it. Asking “How can there be too much education if education is lucrative?” is like asking “How can there be too much air pollution if cars are convenient?” ([Location 3688](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3688))
- Purging the useless material is the socially responsible remedy. Return the hours we seize from the young at great taxpayer expense. When they’re too little to release on their own recognizance, schools can still save a bundle by giving students more active time on the playground or more quiet time in the library. Once they no longer need babysitting, society can save even more by ending the school day the minute useful learning is done. ([Location 3967](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3967))
- Note: I do like this idea. Let kids be kids and pursue what they enjoy instead of forcing anything but the basics on them. Much of Unschooled was about schools that do this.
- When music is optional, lots of students waste years on it. Most of the waste vanishes, however, if intro music teachers cull the bottom 80% of the class. Students who repeatedly survive such weedings might even have a prayer of a future in music. ([Location 3975](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=3975))
- Maybe making students bear the cost of school improves their academic motivation by giving them “skin in the game.” Consistent with these doubts, evidence on the link between financial aid and completion is mixed. ([Location 4088](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4088))
- Note: This could also mean generational lack of education because families without money won't be able to send any kids ever and won't get into higher income. Seems like racial disparity would apply and systemic racism. Does he ever address that angle
- Since education is mostly signaling, however, the social justice catechism is wrong. Yes, awarding a full scholarship to one poor youth makes that individual better off by helping send a fine signal to the labor market. Awarding full scholarships to all poor youths, however, changes what educational signals mean—and leads more affluent competitors to pursue further education to keep their edge. ([Location 4106](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4106))
- Note: So if we make it easier for poor people to go to school rich will just race ahead. See Kids These Days
- To detect subsidies’ downside for social justice, you must dwell on the opportunities the poor have lost because of credential inflation. When most Americans didn’t finish high school, dropouts faced little stigma in the labor market. The stigma is now severe. ([Location 4129](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4129))
- Note: Because so few poor get subsidies those that drop oit face an even bigger stigma than if no poor could go to college, or even later years of high school
- Social Desirability Bias. ([Location 4279](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4279))
- Conventional education mostly helps students by raising their status, but average status cannot rise. Vocational education mostly helps students by building their skills—and average skill can rise. ([Location 4406](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4406))
- Note: vocational education teaches real skills for real jobs. Not just how to tale a test
- Children with joy in their hearts don’t belong in gray workshops, toiling all day long, cogs in the machine. They’re kids, not robots! Well, unless the gray workshop is called a “school” and the cogs earn zero wages. ([Location 4415](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4415))
- According to one intriguing study, looser child labor laws cut education and crime; locking work-oriented students in school makes them “act out.” ([Location 4446](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4446))
- In backward nations, youths work. In advanced nations, youths study. As civilization advances, the young spend ever more years sequestered from paid employment. The modern fear is that work might interfere with school, never that school might interfere with work. ([Location 4541](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4541))
- Note: As if there is something wrong with work. Some teens excel at work and hate school
- Old-school humanists nevertheless overstate their case. Education definitely can be good for the soul. But that hardly shows actually existing education achieves this noble end. In practice, education often turns out to be a neglectful or abusive mother rather than a nourishing one. ([Location 4594](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4594))
- Cost matters whenever you spend your own money. How could cost cease to matter when you spend taxpayer money? Every dollar spent is a dollar that could have been repurposed. ([Location 4628](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4628))
- Note: And we spend MIllions on school for mere signaling
- subsidies for enrichment forfeit their rationale. To object, “But most people don’t use the Internet for spiritual enrichment” is actually a damaging admission that eager students are few and far between. ([Location 4637](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4637))
- Note: It shows how few want to learn yet we force learning on kids
- almost no one grows up to be a violinist, painter, poet, actor, historian, politician, ballet dancer, or professional athlete. ([Location 4941](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4941))
- Note: But do they grow up to be a healthy individual that has a hobby?
- If educators really wanted to broaden students’ horizons, curricula would give students a tour of what the world has to offer—not a tour of what educators were forced to learn when they were students. ([Location 4956](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4956))
- The lesson isn’t that all play and no school are best for kids. The lesson is that champions of academic soulcraft shouldn’t fixate on education. Instead, they should seek out what mix of school and play is best for the soul. Unfortunately, thanks to the high status of education and the low status of play, we tend to compare school at its best to play at its worst: another hour of Angry Birds can’t compete with a Shakespeare lecture from the teacher Robin Williams played in Dead Poets Society. The smart way to discover the best mix of school and play, though, is to compare school and play as they really are. Both fall short of their promise, but it’s unclear which falls shorter. ([Location 4982](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4982))
- Note: I do think kids need morr self exploration. See Unschooled
- Longer school days do serve one socially useful function: they warehouse kids so both their parents can work. ([Location 4995](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=4995))
- Note: One of the big reasons we dont reforn school, parental working inconvenience
- Students forget most of what they learn after the final exam because they’ll never need to know it in real life. The ([Location 5597](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=5597))
- Note: This was always my issue
- Why then do schools waste so much time? As long as academic success leads to career success, neither parents nor students have much motive to critique the curriculum. ([Location 5651](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B076ZY8S8J&location=5651))
- Note: Plus the whole childcare thing for younger kids
