In answer to her question ("what does it mean to be educated"), Robin Hanson, an economist/blogger, suggests: The claim I’m most confident of: school is mostly

In answer to her question ("what does it mean to be educated"), Robin Hanson, an economist/blogger, suggests: The claim I’m most confident of: school is mostly not about the material taught in classes. I’m less sure to what extent it is about learning-to-learn, coming-to-obey, bonding with other kids, and signaling these features as well as intelligence and conscientiousness. I’m pretty sure signaling of various sorts is at least 30% of the average private value of school, and it could go as high as 80%. More interesting discussion can be found here: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/08/functions-of-school.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/08/functions-of-school.ht... http://www.overcomingbias.com/2011/04/kling-on-school.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2011/04/kling-on-school.html Also, an interesting post by economist Bryan Caplan: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/08/bill_dickens_ve.html http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/08/bill_dickens_ve....