Tag Archives: education

Bryan Caplan on Education

Posted on by razma766
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Kurt Bouwhuis, Mackinac Center Intern

Who should and shouldn’t go to college?

Bryan Caplan: There are two ways to read this question. One is: “Who gets a good financial and/or personal return from college?” My answer: people in the top 25 percent of academic ability who also have the work ethic to actually finish college. The other way to read this is: “For whom is college attendance socially beneficial?” My answer: no more than 5 percent of high-school graduates, because college is mostly what economists call a “signaling game.” Most college courses teach few useful job skills; their main function is to signal to employers that students are smart, hard-working, and conformist. The upshot: Going to college is a lot like standing up at a concert to see better. Selfishly speaking, it works, but from a social point of view, we shouldn’t encourage it.

How much does increasing college-going rates matter to our economy and society?

Caplan: College attendance, in my view, is usually a drain on our economy and society. Encouraging talented people to spend many years in wasteful status contests deprives the economy of millions of man-years of output. If this were really an “investment,” of course, it might be worth it. But I see little connection between the skills that students acquire in college and the skills they’ll need later in life.

Original link here

Mackinac Center Current Comment :: 6 August 2008

Posted on by jsrule
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<>< Josh Rule : : 2008 MCPP Intern

Today’s Current Comment is this week’s Michigan Education Digest from Michigan Education Report.  The most interesting story is about how a bill has recently been rushed through the legislature to allow Detroit Public Schools to maintain their ‘first-class’status.  The bill also opens up room for more charter schools, though, and teachers throughout Detroit are expected to protest this fact later this month.

Both the special ‘first-class’status and the possible expansion of charter schools are significant, although for different reasons.  The special status should be removed from Detroit Public Schools because, while it is the largest district in the state of Michigan, it is not different in kind from the others.  It is still a school district, teaching children basic tenets of math, science, literature, history, social science, and the arts.  True, many students are fairing very poorly there, but the extra funding and attention the ‘first-class’label brings will not solve the problem.  The possible expansion of charters school, on the other hand, should be applauded, because it might help the ailing district.  They are no magic bullet, but they are a step in the right direction.  Charter schools open up another avenue for competition that forces schools to put education before union contracts or teacher salaries.

I am certain that many skilled and committed teachers are part of the Detroit Public Schools, and charter schools leave them with nothing to fear.  In fact, these teachers will most likely be better off with the charter schools than without.  Those who do have a reason to protest this new opening for charter schools are teachers who are not actively engaged in the art of teaching. But, for students, losing teachers who are not passionate about education in order to gain teachers who are can only be a good thing.

Four other stories can be found in the Digest this week, so take a few moments and check it out.

Mackinac Center Current Comment :: 1 August 2008

Posted on by jsrule
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<>< Josh Rule : : 2008 MCPP Intern

Today’s Current Comment is an article by Lorie Shane over at Michigan Education Report.  In it, Shane talks about the No Child Left Behind Act, how Michigan continues to perform, and how the act is changing.  While the article is very good, it does not mention what I think are some key points.

First, the NCLB Act, as well as the entire federal Department of Education, is unconstitutional.  The United States Constitution specifically states that those things which are not explicitly delegated to the federal government in the Constitution are to be left entirely to the states’decision.  Education is not specifically delegated in the U.S. Constitution, thus, it is the responsibility of the states to provide and regulate public education.  While the Michigan Department of Education is probably needed, the U.S. DOE certainly is not.

This constitutional provision illustrates an important concept in the U.S. theory of government that is often neglected: federalism.  The United States is just that – a group of states operating in cooperation.  Each state is to be largely independent in the development of laws, bureaus, and customs.  The federal government, in turn, is to provide for those specifically granted powers of the federal Constitution which the founding fathers did not believe easily accomplished by states acting disparately.  The federal government has grown much more powerful than is provided for in our theory of government, and the states, and their citizens, have suffered accordingly.  Federalism is a strong idea, reminiscent of the marketplace, and one to which we should draw attention more often.

Another point worth mentioning is that strong school choice is a much more effective regulator than the NCLB Act.  Leaving the ever-present possibility that students will leave if the education their school provides is not satisfactory, schools have a direct incentive to improve and educate well.  One of the most effective reforms for NCLB, then, would be to abolish it and move all the folks at the state level who have worked to ensure their schools are performing well to working full-time to initiate powerful school choice measures like a tuition tax-credit.

Teaching the youth of the United States is an incredible responsibility.  To do so poorly is an incredibly tragedy.  We must work to reform the educational systems not only of Michigan, but of state, providing a model for the world of how effective education policies can change the future of a nation.

“You need to be educated (gotta go to school)”

Posted on by hkmead
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-Hannah Mead, MCPP intern, 2008

The new education budget that passed both chambers removes Detroit Public Schools’veto power over charter schools. A lot of people are peeved. Rep. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, claims,

Public school academies have been cherry-picking the good students … (adding to) the death spiral of the Detroit public school system.

This reminds me of a public school teacher who accused me in a “how could you?” tone of having “lowered the lowest common denominator” by being home-schooled. (Irritatingly, her mathematical metaphor has absolutely no applicability to her point — I’m glad I learned math from my mom instead.)

How could I? How could she suggest I ought to have sacrificed myself to somehow “level out” public education? I don’t see how my languishing in public schools for nine hours a day learning nothing* would help, and if I did, I probably wouldn’t have stayed anyway — I rather enjoyed getting my schoolwork done in a couple hours and having the rest of the day to play, tyvm.

Fundamentally, good students leaving a school lowers the average test scores, sure, but that statistic doesn’t mean their leaving hurts the poorer performers. (If anything, according to prevailing school-people wisdom, smaller class sizes would help, as might the ability to focus on a group of students with similar aptitude and difficulties.) The goal of a school should not be to look good statistically — it should be to improve the education of each student.

*I must amend this. In my three years at public school I learned two things: what a cylinder is and that Y is sometimes a vowel.

Strip searched for Advil??!

Posted on by segrether
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Sarah Grether : : Managing Editor, Michigan Education Digest

A great commentary from our friends over at Reason describes the story of a female student who was strip searched by her male, middle school vice-principal for what amounted to two tablets of ibuprofen. In good news, the 9th Circuit Court ruled that the search violated the student’s 4th amendment rights. However, three judges decented, one stating that “this is a difficult case.”

This absurdity brings back fond memories of my middle school experiences. Towards the end of my seventh grade year (2002), caffeinated Penguin brand mints became popular and were banned. The principal announced to us all that if any student was caught in possession of the breath mints “it would be considered the same as possessing marijuana.” I didn’t receive any decent answer when I asked if the coffee would be removed from the teacher’s lounge.

No wonder everyone spends the rest of their life trying to forget middle school.

Celebrate Diversity (at the point of a gun)

Posted on by segrether
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Sarah Grether :: MED Managing Editor, MCPP

In last week’s Michigan Education Digest, I covered the story of a female student at Wayland High School who was attacked by two students because of her sexual orientation and advocacy of gay rights. I’ve been following the story as it develops and one student was expelled (the other moved out of the district and could not be disciplined), while both attackers are charged with  aggravated assault. A third student who recorded the attack and posted it online will not be prosecuted.

Now, The Grand Rapids Press reports, after the attack, a group of parents established the Wayland/Union Safe Schools Coalition and are now pushing for diversity education for students and staff. Some parents are naturally skeptical and hesitant, arguing that the school is not responsible for moral education.

Lo, behold one of the major problems with government education! I personally believe that any good school will encourage students to think critically about those who are different from themselves, but by, more or less, forcing parents to send their children to public schools (because of the lack of any real primary and secondary education market: see this MCPP study if you are unfamiliar with market-based education reform) the state has created one of the single most inefficient systems to deal with individual differences, beliefs, values and preferences. Parents should be able to send their children to schools that reflect their values and goals, whether that be traditional or not.

Intolerance and ignorance are a societal disease, but education and cultural indoctrination at the point of a gun are far from reasonable or effective solutions.

Mackinac Center Current Comment :: 11 July 2008

Posted on by jsrule
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<>< Josh Rule : : 2008 MCPP Intern

Lorie Shane wrote today’s Current Comment, which is actually over at Education Report.  She writes about a successful alternative education program that graduated 100% of its students from the Wayne County area.  Go ahead and read the article, because the education the Ombudsman program provides, and the means they use to do it, are a little different than what most students get in the classroom.

Mackinac Center Current Comment :: 9 July 2008

Posted on by jsrule
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<>< Josh Rule : : 2008 MCPP Intern

Today’s Current Comment is another Michigan Education Digest.  Two of the stories are particularly interesting.  The first to check out discusses GVSU’s denial of rechartering for Kalamazoo Advantage Academy, and the second announces a new lawsuit that the Detroit Public Schools have filed against their former director of Risk Management for improper bookkeeping.  (Note that bookkeeping has three double letters in a row: o, k, and e.)

Mackinac Center Current Comment :: 8 July 2008

Posted on by jsrule
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<>< Josh Rule : : 2008 MCPP Intern

Joseph G. Lehman wrote today’s Current Comment at the Mackinac Center, and it is a good one.  He writes to answer a teacher’s question about how someone who has never taught in the public school system could be fit to assess public school teachers and their effectiveness.  And, while the examples Lehman uses to discuss the particular problem at hand are insightful & interesting, the broader point he makes is even more valuable.  Continue reading →

Mackinac Center Current Comment :: 7 July 2008

Posted on by jsrule
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<>< Josh Rule : : 2008 MCPP Intern

Today’s Current Comment at the Mackinac Center is actually a great article by Lorie Shane over at Michigan Education Report.  In it, Shane talks about the 24 school districts in Michigan who operated on a deficit for the 2007-2008 school year.  She looks at the consequences of the deficits – which could be as severe as a complete withdrawal of state funding – as well as the solutions – including the ‘lean thinking’advocated by the Pawley Learning Institute at Oakland University.  The article only mentions, however, the districts currently projecting deficits for the 2008-2009 school year, which includes the projected $408M shortfall the Detroit Public Schools are predicting.  Check it out.

Mackinac Center Current Comment : : 23 June 2008

Posted on by jsrule
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<>< Josh Rule : : 2008 MCPP Intern

Read the Mackinac Center’s current comment for today, 23 June 2008, although it is actually posted on Michigan Education Report.  The article is about a new Catholic high school opening in Detroit this fall.  A well-defined work-study program allows students to earn nearly 70% of their own tuition and leave with four jobs to list on their resume.  The new school is significant because more than 1,000 Catholic schools around the nation have shut down in the past 20 years and few have opened.  Check it out.