For two decades, I've written books and articles and given speeches documenting that education is overrated. Education generates surprisingly small benefits relative to its costs, time, and opportunity costs.
I've been particularly critical of higher education and of education as a tool for lifting people out of poverty. I've felt like a lone voice.
But suddenly there's been a spate of research and articles in prestigious publications that have come to the same conclusion.
I've occasionally blogged about education here but more often, I've simply tweeted about it, usually providing a link to one of those recent articles. Here are the tweets I've written on education since March 1.
The first group of tweets is on K-12 education. The second is on college & graduate school.
On K-12 Education
U.S. is #2 in per capita spending on education http://j.mp/eb0OeY, yet ranks #23 in achievement: http://j.mp/gXWkcT
The Atlantic: The Failure of American Schools: http://t.co/pTo3ciL
Promising educ. programs are Page 1 news & on 60 Min, but page B17 when they turn out to be far less (e.g., KIPP, or Michelle Rhee's bogus "miracle" in DC.)
Education cries out for reinvention: replace the mammoth arcana with immersive, simulation-rich opps to build thinking, writing, etc.
A smarter, simpler way to start a school: http://bit.ly/eg4Kxf
What I said to a school of profoundly gifted teens. (Yes, there's relevance in it for everyone): http://bit.ly/eUNUJ1
One summary of the case against college: http://bit.ly/keoUiQ
Title of a current commentary in Marketwatch: "College is a Scam: "http://j.mp/m9f27z
Chronicle of Higher Ed: A devastating warning to weak students choosing college over other options: http://j.mp/lTZmjg
Title of a current commentary in Marketwatch: "College is a Scam: "http://j.mp/m9f27z
Chronicle of Higher Ed: A devastating warning to weak students choosing college over other options: http://j.mp/lTZmjg
The unmasking of higher ed accelerates. This time it's New York magazine: A "degree is essentially worthless." http://shar.es/H7c5F
NYT: 36% of students' thinking/writing scores rise 1 point or less on 100-point scale from 4 yrs of college! .http://j.mp/mK8Gpn
Yet another ridiculing of higher education's poor value, this time from the world's best bond valuer: Bill Gross: http://bit.ly/jyKNw4
L.A. Times Op-Ed: Colleges have abandoned responsibility for shaping students' academic development: http://j.mp/iPMY6s
Yet another ridiculing of higher education's poor value, this time from the world's best bond valuer: Bill Gross: http://bit.ly/jyKNw4
L.A. Times Op-Ed: Colleges have abandoned responsibility for shaping students' academic development: http://j.mp/iPMY6s
Despite a libertarian bias & some hype, a compelling video indictment of higher ed's lack of value: http://inflation.us/videos.html
The six most important things you must UNLEARN from your college education: http://j.mp/l3lwno
Pew: % of college presidents that think U.S. higher ed is best in the world: 9%. % that think it will be so 10 yrs hence: 7%.
Pew: 58% of college prezes say public HS students less prepared than a decade ago. Duh--MOST colleges now admit nearly all.
Pew: % of college presidents that think U.S. higher ed is best in the world: 9%. % that think it will be so 10 yrs hence: 7%.
Pew: 58% of college prezes say public HS students less prepared than a decade ago. Duh--MOST colleges now admit nearly all.
Thomas Sowell: Today's college/graduate educ makes people LESS employable & creates ideologues, NOT clear thinkers: http://j.mp/iJjn8K
College cost has gone wild while its ROI declines yet the media nor govt says, "Cut your bloat!" when colleges scream for yet more tax dollars. Why?!
Law grads face huge debt: $69K public $106 private PER YEAR! x 3 years!!. Then "extensive, grueling" job search..http://j.mp/j8vxdd
USA Today: Gross oversupply of science PhDs: Only 13% get tenure-track U jobs, and there are few corp jobs: http://j.mp/gDrsFR
WSJ: Yet more on why getting an MBA may be ill-advised: http://on.wsj.com/dHJ78Z
Unlike what the colleges try to manipulate us into believing, here's how average folks CAN find good jobs: http://t.co/CnBp8iU
Don't like your college financial aid "award?" Appeal.
Black 4-year grad rate @ Cal State U's is just 6%!! Should we provide yet more support or redirect weak apps to 2-yr coll, OTJ trng, etc?.
The Economist joins chorus: Higher Ed is a Bubble: the degree, the education, even the vaunted research: http://j.mp/erVzli
CNN: A record high 85%(!) of college grads are feeling forced, jobless, to move back in with their parents. http://j.mp/c24P3v
The College Report Card: A great tool for deciding which college to choose: http://bit.ly/fdQwZi
PayPal founder Peter Thiel: We’re in a Bubble... and It’s Higher Education. tcrn.ch/fRdMz7
Forbes/#CCAP: Govt upping finan aid moves $ from taxpayer to colleges, NOT to students--colleges simply up tuition: http://j.mp/mGmBqy
Forbes/#CCAP: Your tuition pays for things other than your educ: e.g., professors' arcane research. http://j.mp/i76uOb
WSJ: Great piece by Dilbert's Scott Adams: Most students need to learn how to run a business http://on.wsj.com/eoaLdT
I just wrote what I think is my best article on how to become successfully self-employed: an un-MBA: http://bit.ly/h63l3a
To dramatically improve higher ed, require all colleges to post my College Report Card on itself; http://bit.ly/fGBX8k
Harvard study: BA nor MA ups teacher effectiveness. Per my recent tweets, it's ever clearer that educ is overrated. http://bit.ly/gGAdSE
I'm watching professor Rufus Fears on Churchill http://cs.pn/hP5hG7 You can cherry-pick world's best instructors on YouTube, TED, CSpan.org.
Washington Post: it may be wise to skip higher ed: wapo.st/9S9Yti. Higher ed cries out for reinvention.
Finally: U.S. senator demands law schools to stop lying about their employment stats; abovethelaw.com/2011/03/watch-…
Major authoritative new study says that students learn little or nothing at college. http://yhoo.it/grcHNn
My lecture at U.C. Berkeley: America's Most Overrated Product: Higher Education: wp.me/pQChF-P4
Yet another piece on why college is overrated http://su.pr/8B2Ni7
Finally, HERE is an article of mine, America's Most Overrated Product: Higher Education, which first appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education and was republished in a number of other places. I like to think it encouraged the current examination of higher education, which had been America's most underexamined icon.
I want to thank readers of this blog, for example, Peter Christensen and Mark Drevno for sending me a number of the cited articles. I apologize for not recalling the other contributors' names.
