I had an amazing conversation with Bryan Caplan. He is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University, and best-selling author of nine books, including The Case Against Education, which was the theme of this episode.
We discuss:
Schools as daycare
If college was more useful in the past
College is mostly signaling
Killing DEI and gender studies in colleges
How Hamas hit the prestige of American universities
How Bryan homeschooled his kids, and more!
Bryan is candid, smart, and funny. Timestamps below. Hope you enjoy the episode!
Watch on YouTube. Listen on Spotify.
Find me on X: @aasthajs for future posts and writing.
Read my essay: The Genius of Peter Thiel on attacking the Ivy Leagues and the high school dropouts shattering the college gospel
Follow Bryan Caplan on X. Bryan’s blog Bet on It.
Timestamps:
0:00 Public vs. Private Schools
1:40 Teaching “Learning how to learn” is wishful thinking
8:08 McKinsey does not teach critical thinking
9:36 Schools are daycare
11:30 Was college more useful in the past?
15:00 College is filtering for employers
16:08 Why don’t colleges improve learning?
18:53 Bryan’s argument with Tyler Cowen if he was University President..
26:03 Would Bryan start a new University?
32:11 Hamas hit the prestige of top American Universities
36:13 Would companies adopt Tyler’s talent hiring approaches?
42:03 Crazy idea that could collapse Universities
45:29 Education funding is inefficient
51:20 How Bryan homeschooled his kids
57:59 Does parental influence matter?
59:42 Government is strangling the housing industry
Bryan Caplan - Schools as Daycare, Kill DEI in Colleges, Homeschooling