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

by Bryan Caplan

Policies don’t triumph and endure because they work well. They triumph and endure because they sound good. “Every child deserves the best education in the world” sounds great to citizens the world over, ruinous social returns notwithstanding. Why fight political psychology? Instead of being a soloist crying for less education, I could join the megachorus crying for better education. Alas, my arguments hold me back. What I’ve shown is that otherworldly education is overrated. The commonsense response is to cut otherworldly education, and spend the savings on something worthwhile—with no presumption that “something” should be another form of education. Education is so integral to modern life we take it for granted. Of course youths have to leap through interminable academic hoops to secure their place in adult society. This is how civilized societies work. My thesis, in a single sentence: civilized societies revolve around education now, but there is a better—indeed more civilized—way. We can switch as soon as adults collectively admit we’re making childish mistakes. We have to admit academic success is a great way to get a good job, but a poor way to learn how to do a good job. If everyone got a college degree, the result would not be great jobs for all, but runaway credential inflation. Trying to spread success with education spreads education but not success. Back in the 1980s, a sign hung in my junior high school’s main office. It read: “Teenagers! If you’re tired of bei...