5 ms·
This is complete and utter nonsense. In a time of incredible, increasing inequality, the problem is that there's TOO MUCH social mobility? Give me a fucking bre
by DoctorNick 5y ago
This is complete and utter nonsense. In a time of incredible, increasing inequality, the problem is that there's TOO MUCH social mobility? Give me a fucking break.
- throw3849 5y agoProducing graduates with irrelevant education and a huge debt is the opposite of social mobility.
- Peritract 5y agoIt's the debt that's the problem, not the education.
- luckylion 5y agoIt's the debt for irrelevant education. You don't need a million Pokemon scholars, and society would do much better if they had gone into engineering instead.
- pclmulqdq 5y agoColleges used to be finishing schools for the rich attached to educational institutions for geniuses (the geniuses keep the prestige level up, and the rich provide funding). Companies started demanding degrees to get people who are geniuses or well-connected, so new schools popped up to produce more graduates, and so on in a feedback loop. Eventually the degree became a requirement and not a signal of "eliteness" any more. The people getting the degrees still feel elite, even though many go on to become baristas and store clerks. The problem is that college was never about the education (except for a small minority of students who were usually in the sciences), it was always about the signaling. The part that we think is good (the education) is just a side effect.
- DoctorNick 5y agoBTW, the author is an utter creep: https://slate.com/business/2018/04/economist-robin-hanson-might-be-americas-creepiest-professor.html https://slate.com/business/2018/04/economist-robin-hanson-mi...