College: A One Sided Sorting Mechanism
I recently listened to an excellent EconTalk podcast with Arnold Kling discussing technological changes in higher education. Kling pointed out the main role universities play is sorting, not forming. There is a somewhat romantic idea among the populace that education molds and shapes young lumps…
Separation of School and State
While reading Peter Boettke's wonderful new book "Living Economics," I was reminded by Boettke of an interesting disagreement between Scottish Enlightenment figures Adam Smith and David Hume. Both Smith and Hume used economic thinking to understand a puzzling phenomenon of their day: Countries with…
Why Don't Universities Try Something Crazy?
What if a university decided to try something crazy: What if they hired professors based entirely on the quality of their research and/or teaching? Imagine if the hiring committee dropped all other criteria. They ignored where the applicant got their degree, or even if they had one. They ignored…
Commerce is Better Than Education
I've recently read several essays on education by some of the American Founders. These writings have in common a belief that good education will promote civility, manners, advances in agriculture, manufacturing, and morality. It seems to me effect is confused with cause. It's not education - at…