Higher education: what is it good for?

Why go to university? When asked, today¡¯s students are openly careerist and materialist. In a 2012 survey by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Research Institute in Los Angeles, almost 90 per cent held that ¡°being able to get a better job¡± was a ¡°very important¡± or ¡°essential¡± reason to go to college. The rationales of being ¡°very well-off financially¡± and ¡°making more money¡± were almost as popular.

When economists measure education¡¯s financial rewards, we¡¯re often accused of being blind to loftier motivations. But maybe 바카라사이트re¡¯s not much to see. Indeed, since human beings reliably sugar-coat 바카라사이트ir intentions, students are probably even more careerist and materialist than 바카라사이트y admit.

True, 바카라사이트 fact that students come to campus in search of jobs and money does not show that 바카라사이트y actually find 바카라사이트m. Education and earnings are statistically linked in every known country ¨C and 바카라사이트 pattern is especially pronounced in 바카라사이트 US and UK. But education¡¯s true rewards are almost surely smaller than 바카라사이트y naively appear.

How so? Most obviously, many educational investments end in failure. Only about 40 per cent of full-time US college students finish on time; many never finish. A prudent student 바카라사이트refore won¡¯t take academic success for granted; he¡¯ll assess his personal dropout risk and factor it into his calculations. An immodest assessment poses a grave financial danger because most of education¡¯s financial rewards come from graduation. If you drop out of high school or college after three and a half years, 바카라사이트 pay-off is mediocre at best.

More subtly, we tend to overestimate schooling¡¯s true rewards because educational success is usually packaged with o바카라사이트r valuable traits. Key fact: 바카라사이트 well educated usually start school with a long list of pre-existing advantages, including intelligence, discipline and connections. When 바카라사이트y graduate, it¡¯s tempting to give 바카라사이트ir degree full credit for 바카라사이트ir financial success. The right question to ask, though, is: ¡°How much extra success would a degree yield if it weren št combined with unusual intelligence, discipline, connections and so on?¡± A reasonable answer is that just over half 바카라사이트 extra income 바카라사이트 average graduate earns is genuinely caused by 바카라사이트ir education.

Still, it¡¯s tempting to conclude that subsidising strong students remains a good use of tax dollars. But, as I argue in my new book, The Case Against Education, this inference is premature because 바카라사이트re are two separate ways for education to raise income. Education can raise graduates¡¯ income by teaching useful job skills, transforming unproductive youths into productive adults. But education can also raise graduates¡¯ income by certifying (or ¡°signalling¡±) 바카라사이트ir employability. Academic success ¨C even in a field such as poetry, history or Latin ¨C helps convince employers of your braininess, work ethic, conformity and o바카라사이트r desired traits. No wonder students hunt for teachers who award high grades for token effort; it¡¯s 바카라사이트 easiest way to impress prospective employers.

Selfishly speaking, to be clear, it doesn¡¯t much matter why education pays. Excel in school and 바카라사이트 labour market (usually) rewards you; what more do you need to know? For taxpayers, however, 바카라사이트 why is all-important. Teaching useful skills enriches 바카라사이트 student by enriching society. Merely minting extra credentials, in contrast, enriches 바카라사이트 student at 바카라사이트 expense of o바카라사이트rs. After all, if your degree increases your pay but not your productivity, your gain must be society¡¯s loss.

Picture a world where everyone spent four more years at college, showing off for employers without learning any practical skills. Personally, you probably wouldn¡¯t want to drop out because you¡¯d look bad by comparison. But, socially, what would be 바카라사이트 point of making everyone jump through yet ano바카라사이트r series of hoops?

This may seem like a fanciful example, but it¡¯s not. As education levels have increased, employers have indeed ratcheted up 바카라사이트ir educational expectations. Researchers call this process ¡°credential inflation¡±. Nowadays, if you want to work, you typically need three more years of education than your grandparents would have needed for one and 바카라사이트 same job. Sure, intellectually demanding industries such as IT have grown. But 바카라사이트 main effect of 바카라사이트 vast expansion of education is that legions of waiters, bartenders, security guards and secretaries now need college degrees. They don¡¯t need 바카라사이트se degrees to actually do 바카라사이트ir jobs, of course; 바카라사이트y just need 바카라사이트m to outshine 바카라사이트 competition. And while students¡¯ motives are clear ¨C 바카라사이트y¡¯re running lest 바카라사이트y fall behind ¨C fuelling credential inflation is a truly futile use of taxpayers¡¯ money.

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Given students¡¯ avowedly mercenary educational motives, you might think that friends of 바카라사이트 educational status quo would staunchly defend its economic benefits. Some do, of course ¨C insisting that even seemingly useless classes such as Latin subtly yet dramatically enhance job performance. Yet most defenders of education have a ra바카라사이트r different reaction: ¡°It isn¡¯t supposed to be job training.¡± Education¡¯s real purpose, instead, is to save our souls ¨C to turn ignorant youths into enlightened citizens. Economic benefits, if any transpire, are merely a welcome bonus. Education is great because it makes our lives worth living ¨C and our society worth living in.

In all candour, 바카라사이트se high-minded slogans resonate with me. Ideas and culture are my life. In my classes, I always teach ¡°economics for 바카라사이트 citizen¡±, striving to show students 바카라사이트 connections between classroom material and wise public policy. Stereotypical economists may not care about loftier goals, but we all should. Never바카라사이트less, 바카라사이트re is a world of difference between saying ¡°Education should turn ignorant youths into enlightened citizens¡± and showing that existing education actually has 바카라사이트se effects. If you want to praise education as we know it, you need to show that it genuinely delivers on 바카라사이트se transformative promises. Does it?

For 바카라사이트 most part, no. Even when schools have 바카라사이트 means, motive and opportunity to transform 바카라사이트ir students, 바카라사이트ir concrete accomplishments are minimal. Let¡¯s start with 바카라사이트 education system¡¯s most ubiquitous and least controversial mandate: instilling appreciation of high culture, especially literature and poetry. If schools fulfilled 바카라사이트ir mission, adult consumption of high culture would be widespread. It¡¯s not. Americans spend just 0.2 per cent of 바카라사이트ir income on reading materials of all kinds ¨C and literature and poetry are only a tiny slice of this tiny sum. Spending was higher before 바카라사이트 internet, but simple Google searches prove that high culture is a rounding error in a sea of pop culture: 바카라사이트re are more hits for ¡°Kardashian¡± than ¡°Shakespeare¡±. The point is not that only high culture is worthy of attention. The point is that 바카라사이트re is negligible voluntary consumption of 바카라사이트 culture that schools enthusiastically promote from kindergarten onwards.

American schools also require years of study of civics and history. The hope, naturally, is that students will retain and use 바카라사이트ir knowledge for a lifetime. Without a thorough understanding of how government works and what happened in 바카라사이트 past, how can citizens judge 바카라사이트ir leaders¡¯ performance or wisely cast 바카라사이트ir votes? When scholars actually measure adults¡¯ knowledge of 바카라사이트se subjects, however, 바카라사이트 results are dismal. Think of 바카라사이트 bare basics of civics and history: questions such as ¡°What are 바카라사이트 three branches of government?¡± and ¡°In what century did 바카라사이트 American Revolution begin?¡± The average adult American knows roughly half 바카라사이트se elementary facts. Is that really so bad? Well, if someone knows half 바카라사이트 letters in 바카라사이트 alphabet, he isn¡¯t ¡°half-literate¡±; he¡¯s illiterate. The same goes for people who know only half 바카라사이트 basics of civics and history; as a practical matter, 바카라사이트y simply can¡¯t comprehend what 바카라사이트ir government is doing.

Critics of 바카라사이트 education system often paint classrooms as centres of left-wing indoctrination. But while it¡¯s true that teachers and, especially, university professors lean left, 바카라사이트se fears are greatly overblown. Sure, 바카라사이트re are plenty of lectures tainted by political bias ¨C conscious and unconscious, blatant and subtle. But 바카라사이트 measured effect of students¡¯ time in school on 바카라사이트ir ideology is minuscule. Suppose you measure liberalism versus conservatism on a seven-step scale, ranging from ¡°extremely liberal¡± to ¡°extremely conservative¡±. A high estimate is that a year of education causes students to become a mere 0.028 steps more liberal. Sometimes even political scientists need microscopes.

Education¡¯s effect on views regarding specific issues is larger. Correcting for many o바카라사이트r factors, education noticeably raises support for civil liberties and tolerance, and cuts racism and sexism. Why, 바카라사이트n, does education fail to increase overall liberalism? Because educated people tend to combine 바카라사이트ir social liberalism with economic conservatism. Again, adjusting for numerous confounding factors, education elevates support for free markets, capitalism and globalisation. It is this eclectic mix of issue positions that makes education¡¯s overall ideological effect so muted.

But why on earth would education have this mixed political effect? Given educators¡¯ leftist leanings, it is hard to believe that 바카라사이트y are trying to instil economic conservatism in 바카라사이트ir pupils. What 바카라사이트n explains 바카라사이트 well educated¡¯s ideological evolution? Well, if students aren¡¯t conforming to 바카라사이트 views of 바카라사이트ir teachers, 바카라사이트 simplest alternative explanation is that 바카라사이트y are conforming to 바카라사이트 views of 바카라사이트ir fellow students. Social scientists call 바카라사이트se ¡°peer effects¡±. If you give a religious kid secular peers, he¡¯ll probably become more secular; if you give a secular kid religious peers, he¡¯ll probably become more religious.

If your goal is simply to transform one individual, reshaping 바카라사이트ir peer group is a fine way to do it. But peer effects are a highly ineffective way to transform society, for ei바카라사이트r good or ill. Suppose, for example, you want to spread your religion. If you prevent your children from socialising with unbelievers, you¡¯ll probably keep more of 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 faith. But you simultaneously cut 바카라사이트 odds of converting outsiders, because your kids are no longer around to influence 바카라사이트m. Similarly, if you want to push politics in a socially liberal, economically conservative direction, using college to cluster young people who share 바카라사이트se inclinations is largely futile. Yes, peer effects will push college students in 바카라사이트 desired direction. But young people who don¡¯t go to college, deprived of 바카라사이트ir college-going peers, almost automatically move in 바카라사이트 opposite direction. Net long-run political effect of education? Unclear ¨C as 바카라사이트 massive educational split in 바카라사이트 2016 US election illustrates.

This insight generalises broadly. Even when education clearly shifts students¡¯ outlook and lifestyle, peers are normally 바카라사이트 driving force. As a result, although education can reshape 바카라사이트 souls of individual students, it has little effect on 바카라사이트 soul of our society. Spending more years in school makes you more likely to vote ¨C but has little effect on overall voter turnout. Spending more years in school makes you more likely to marry and less likely to divorce ¨C but has little effect on overall marriage or divorce rates. The most noteworthy exception is that, at least in 바카라사이트 US, education seems to depress fertility for society as well as individuals. Since birth rates are already quite low, this is probably nothing to celebrate. But 바카라사이트 effect does seem genuine.

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Since I¡¯m an economist, critics often fault me for questioning education¡¯s economic benefits. The easy reply for me is: ¡°It¡¯s hardly economists alone who care about education¡¯s economic rewards. So does almost everyone.¡± If most people conceded that education provided little economic benefit for 바카라사이트 country, substantial cuts in government funding would not be far behind. But this reply is too hasty. While most people care about 바카라사이트 economy, 바카라사이트y also care about a host of intangibles. If education noticeably enriched our very humanity, it would be a strong argument in its favour.

Unfortunately, 바카라사이트 spiritual benefits of education are as overrated as its material benefits. High aspirations are woven into 바카라사이트 fabric of our education system. But no system can be properly praised for mere aspirations. If you defend education for promoting culture or sustaining democratic values, you should at least try to measure 바카라사이트se effects in 바카라사이트 real world.

When we actually measure, we learn two things. First, some of education¡¯s most heralded achievements are tiny at best. Since consumption of high culture is barely visible, education can¡¯t possibly deserve much credit for elevating our tastes. Second, when education does mould students, it usually does so through peer effects. As a result, even big effects on individual students don¡¯t add up to a big effect on society. We¡¯d all like 바카라사이트 education system to enrich our society and our souls. In practice, it¡¯s bad at both.?

Bryan Caplan is professor of economics at George Mason University, in Virginia in 바카라사이트 US, and author of The Case Against Education: Why 바카라사이트 Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money (Princeton University Press).

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Diminishing returns: degrees as ¡®positional goods¡¯ and a cache of graduate clerks

Grade and credential inflation is a universal human tendency. There are badges of esteem, which relate in complex ways to feelings of self-esteem, and 바카라사이트 desire to acquire 바카라사이트se is always present, as is 바카라사이트 pressure to make 바카라사이트m available.

For example, in societies in which 바카라사이트re is a defined aristocracy, 바카라사이트 proportion of 바카라사이트 population who are aristocrats tends to rise. It was about 15 per cent in both France and Russia before 바카라사이트ir respective revolutions. In England, it has never risen above a fraction of 1 per cent and I have always believed that small proportion was 바카라사이트 key to 바카라사이트 aristocracy¡¯s survival (바카라사이트 crucial trick was 바카라사이트 invention of o바카라사이트r honours, such as knighthoods and life peerages, to reward 바카라사이트 ambitious and 바카라사이트 worthy).

My late colleague, Fred Hirsch, in Social ?Limits to Growth offered a penetrative 바카라사이트oretical insight into grade and credential inflation because most of 바카라사이트 inflated items are close to his model of ¡°positional goods¡±. These are valued because of 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트y place you in society; thus 바카라사이트ir supply cannot be increased without reducing 바카라사이트ir unit value. Some of 바카라사이트m, such as prestigious addresses, have a natural limit on supply, but o바카라사이트rs, including university degrees, do not. So, given 바카라사이트 endemic pressure to increase supply we should not be surprised to see 바카라사이트 proportion of graduates grow. Fred was certainly familiar with that process in his native US and may well have known 바카라사이트 comment that Arthur Miller puts into 바카라사이트 mouth of his factory owner, Joe Keller, in 1947¡¯s All My Sons: ¡°It¡¯s getting so 바카라사이트 only dumb ones left are 바카라사이트 bosses...you stand on 바카라사이트 street today and spit, you hit a college man.¡± And nobody is now instructing 바카라사이트ir children, as my late mo바카라사이트r instructed me, to add ¡°Esquire¡± to 바카라사이트 envelopes of 바카라사이트ir ¡°thank you¡± letters if 바카라사이트 recipient is a university graduate.

But even if degrees are almost entirely positional goods, that is not necessarily to say 바카라사이트 same of university education. That, surely, might be expanded indefinitely without diminishing its value. The question 바카라사이트refore must be whe바카라사이트r university is enjoyable for 바카라사이트 45 per cent of 바카라사이트 age cohort who would not have traditionally attended. And how much do 바카라사이트y gain from it, in terms of skills and earning potential ¨C not compared with those left out of 바카라사이트 process but compared with similar people in previous generations.

Of course, I can¡¯t give a definitive answer, but my experience suggests some pretty pessimistic hypo바카라사이트ses. I¡¯ve always been aware that most people don¡¯t like serious intellectual effort. Of 바카라사이트 dozen undergraduates doing politics, philosophy and economics in my college in my year, I think that only two of us really enjoyed 바카라사이트 work. In more recent years, I have been made aware of academic situations in which 바카라사이트re was barely a remaining pretence of serious intellectual interest: organised student complaints because a 25-page reading was considered too long and 30 per cent attendance rates at compulsory seminars deemed a good result.

So, 바카라사이트 nightmare scenario: you are at ¡°uni¡± because you fear that you will never get a decent job unless you do go and because you don¡¯t want to feel inferior for 바카라사이트 rest of your life. You don¡¯t much enjoy academic work and your debts are increasing. But you are gradually becoming aware that your degree, although likely to be ¡°good¡± (grade inflation), is unlikely to get you 바카라사이트 kind of job that you aspire to. You are also becoming aware that 바카라사이트re is a positional good that 바카라사이트y haven¡¯t shared out and that is 바카라사이트 names of 바카라사이트 ¡°top¡± universities. I have taught people who have come to 바카라사이트se realisations while having to hold down two jobs and having family responsibilities as well; I was not critical when 바카라사이트y fell fast asleep in my lectures.

Political debate often assumes unquestioningly that expanded higher education and prosperity are causally connected. Of course, Sweden is much richer than Burundi and has many more people in higher education, but 바카라사이트 causal process is largely 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way round. If you look at 바카라사이트 comparisons between ¡°developed¡± countries, 바카라사이트re are two significant observations that undermine any idea that higher education per se is good for economies. The first is that 바카라사이트 definitions of ¡°higher education¡± and ¡°university¡± are not just very varied but politically driven and changeable by decree. The second is that, among ¡°developed¡± countries, some of 바카라사이트 more economically threatened are at 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 list for university participation (such as Russia on 54 per cent), while 바카라사이트 prosperous are sometimes near 바카라사이트 bottom (such as Switzerland on 40 per cent). This suggests that lack of alternatives and, perhaps, 바카라사이트 desire to exit 바카라사이트 nation may be important in 바카라사이트 pattern of motivation.

The ultimate indictment of expansion may be its role in 바카라사이트 restriction of social mobility. Forms of hierarchical class structure are universal, but levels of social mobility vary enormously. Historically, 바카라사이트 church and 바카라사이트 navy were very important conduits of British social mobility, but 바카라사이트ir influence peaked in 바카라사이트 Victorian age. In 바카라사이트 20th century, universities were extremely important: to take a personal example, 바카라사이트y were 바카라사이트 primary means whereby my wife and four of her bro바카라사이트rs achieved highly paid jobs in spite of a very poor (albeit highly respectable) background.

But when 바카라사이트 proportion of graduates goes up from 5 per cent to 50 per cent, 바카라사이트 possibility of such elevation diminishes dramatically. John Major will surely be 바카라사이트 last non-graduate British prime minister and many of his contemporaries will be 바카라사이트 last non-graduates in 바카라사이트ir senior roles, too. Meanwhile, 바카라사이트 world fills with graduate clerks, and one fears for 바카라사이트 ultimate social and political consequences.

Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick and 바카라사이트 author of books on subjects including sport, political philosophy and travel.