Category Archives: Education

Bright College Days: Part III

Posted on February 10, 2018 by gcochran9

If higher education is mostly a social loss, as Caplan persuasively argues, what is to be done? Caplan thinks that the government should stop subsidizing education. He favors full separation of school and state* That position sounds a little less … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 66 Comments

Bright College Days: Part I

Posted on February 1, 2018 by gcochran9

I have a problem in thinking about education, since my preferences and personal educational experience are atypical, so I can’t just gut it out. On the other hand, knowing that puts me ahead of a lot of people that seem … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 162 Comments

Poison Ivy Halls

Posted on January 27, 2018 by gcochran9

I’m going to review Bryan Caplan’s new book, The Case Against Education. Will discuss it, and general educational issues, with James Miller [in an upcoming podcast]. This will eventually include a definitive prescription for fixing American education, not that anyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 92 Comments

Some of my earlier thoughts on education

Posted on January 26, 2018 by gcochran9

Here. With more to come.

Posted in Education | 36 Comments

Majors, II

Posted on January 7, 2018 by gcochran9

I talked about what people major in earlier, but this is useful, I think. I’m revving up for some posts about education. A question: I’d like to hear some thoughts about which degrees are worthless. Define you terms. For example< … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 105 Comments

Bad Teacher

Posted on May 17, 2016 by gcochran9

I just read “The Battle For Room 314”, Ed Boland’s account of a year teaching at a NYC high school. Boland had been an admissions officer, done fundraising for nonprofits – but wanted to DO GOOD, and of course go … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Education | Tagged | 149 Comments

Federal University

Posted on March 30, 2016 by gcochran9

College costs – real costs, in constant dollars – are about 2.5 times higher than they were were in 1965. And a higher fraction of those costs are dumped on the students, which means that it’s easy to graduate with … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 32 Comments

Biology and Human Capital

Posted on July 31, 2014 by gcochran9

I don’t pretend to be an economist.  If I had been, I’m sure that I too would have been unable to see the big real-estate bubble back in 2008, even though crazed Californians  were flipping houses all around my neighborhood. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Education | 194 Comments

The Son Also Rises

Posted on March 23, 2014 by gcochran9

Greg Clark has a new book out, The Son Also Rises. His thesis, in short, is that moxie has high heritability. Most studies show fairly high social mobility from one generation to the next – but Clark finds (using surname … Continue reading →

Posted in Ashkenazi Jews, assortative mating, Book Reviews, Education, Genetics | 80 Comments

In the first place

Posted on December 28, 2013 by gcochran9

We hear a lot about innovative educational approaches, and since these silly people have been at this for a long time now, we hear just as often about the innovative approaches that some idiot started up a few years ago … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Uncategorized | 60 Comments