3 ms·

This is a rebuke only to the extent that "the emperor enjoys the breeze" is a rebuke to someone pointing out that the emperor is naked.

• romwell 7y ago
  Not quite. It's like someone someone is pointing out that the emperor is naked, and the rebuke is "Have you considered that we are all at a beach, and invited the Emperor to go skinny dipping with us". Merely pointing out that the emperor is naked, without sufficient consideration for context, implies that there is something terribly wrong with the emperor. You'd think that the guy just walks around naked! Now with context, you understand that if you expect the Emperor to be clothed, then perhaps you shouldn't have spent the whole week convincing him to go skinny-dipping with you, and then act surprised when you are both at a beach. The fault, if any, is with what you asked of the Emperor. So here we are with education. We tell our kids to do well in school so that they could go to a good college and get a good job (a chain that revolves around signaling!), measure the education by signaling it provides (acceptance rates, employment rates out of college), and then insert surprised Pikachu write books about how education is a waste because it's about signaling!
  • ikeboy 7y ago
    I think many if not most people involved in academia would strongly disagree that it teaches you nothing. Caplan's thesis was certainly not widely accepted prior to publication.