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

by Bryan Caplan

In any case, matching course content to job openings remains the most direct way to ballpark vocational ed’s signaling share. All classes prepare students for some job. Auto shop teaches students how to repair cars; history teaches students how to do history. From a signaling standpoint, the issue is always, “How often do students use the skills they learn?” Vocational ed stands out because it prepares students for common jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States has roughly 900,000 carpenters, 700,000 auto mechanics, and 400,000 plumbers. Classic college-prep classes like literature, foreign language, and history fall short because they prepare students for rare jobs. The whole U.S. employs only 129,000 writers, 64,000 translators, and 3,800 historians.16