As I noted earlier, I’ve prepared for a colloquium at Milton and Rose Friedman’s summer home, Capitaf, that happens next month.
I went through various chapters of both Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose thoroughly to see whether they held up. The majority do.
But on one issue that the Friedmans address in both books, I can no longer think the way I did even as little as a year ago: the issue of education and schooling. Reading the first third of Bryan Caplan’s The Case Against Education and listening to the various interviews–my favorite is the one by Robert Wiblin–has changed my thinking fundamentally.
I remember Bob Lucas at the University of Chicago writing:
Is there some action a government of India could take that would lead the Indian economy to grow like Indonesia’s or Egypt’s? If so, what, exactly? If not, what is it about the “nature of India” that makes it so? The consequences for human welfare involved in questions like these are simply staggering: Once one starts to think about them, it is hard to think about anything else.
I am an educator. I have been for over 40 years. But now that I’ve absorbed a large part of Bryan Caplan’s message about education, whenever I think about education, it’s hard to think about anything other than his critique–and the policy measures that should follow from his critique.
Because I’ve been thinking more about education and schooling, I have some suggestions for incremental reforms that could move the system in the direction that Bryan and I would like. I proposed them to Milton Friedman back in 2000 as an alternative to his pursuit of vouchers. In the next few days, I’ll share them, along with excerpts of my correspondence with Milton.
READER COMMENTS
Alan Goldhammer
May 31 2018 at 12:20pm
As you know I am a big skeptic of Professor Caplan’s book having read it thoroughly and offered significant critiques on several of the sections. If you are preparing for the upcoming colloquium you would be far better served by reading Jim and Deb Fallows new book, “Our Towns: A 100,000 mile journey into the heartland of America.” This is what real field research is like and contrast this to Professor Caplan’s often flawed meta-analysis of the education literature.
The Fallows visit numerous small and middle sized towns throughout this country and in addition to examining economic development they write about how education approaches are helping to change communities for the better. This is absent from Caplan’s book.
David R Henderson
Jun 1 2018 at 12:15pm
@Alan Goldhammer,
The Fallows visit numerous small and middle sized towns throughout this country and in addition to examining economic development they write about how education approaches are helping to change communities for the better. This is absent from Caplan’s book.
Fair enough. Since I won’t soon have time to read the book, can you give me 3 findings of theirs that contradict important findings of Bryan’s.
Alan Goldhammer
Jun 2 2018 at 3:27pm
I’m sorry you won’t have time to read the book since there are some very good findings in regard to economic development in the regions they visited.
Since I don’t find many of Professor Caplan’s findings important, it’s difficult to respond. The Fallows note that the educational systems in some of the areas they visited were adapting to the needs of the community. In Mississippi a STEM school was established that is attracting a lot of boarding students who want that type of education. The racial balance of the students is pretty much in line with that of the state as a whole.
They also highlight the role that higher education institutions play in regional development. The chapter on Greenville SC was instructive in terms of how they rebounded from the loss of the textile industry and the proximity to Clemson made a difference. Other old mill towns in SC that did not have such a resource have not rebounded.
You can get a distillation of what Jim has covered at his section of the Atlantic HERE and specifically the 100K journey HERE.
David R Henderson
Jun 2 2018 at 7:13pm
@Alan Goldhammer,
Since I don’t find many of Professor Caplan’s findings important, it’s difficult to respond.
Maybe you misunderstood my request. You can find one of his findings–maybe I should have used the more-neutral term “conclusions”–important, without agreeing with them. It’s hard for me to believe that you find his conclusions unimportant, given how hostile you’ve been to them and him.
But thanks for the Clemson example and for the two links. I’ll take a look.
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