Now that June has started, many professors are ready to update their syllabi. While “keep it unchanged” is the easiest route, there’s always room for pedagogical improvement. Contrary to what you may have heard, I love education… as it might and ought to be. And as a firm believer in self-promotion, I think one of the best ways to make education more lovable is to adopt one (or more!) of my books as secondary course texts. A quick tour of my menu:
The Case Against Education,
my latest book, is perfect for any class on the economics of education,
educational psychology, or sociology of education. It also works well
for any class on cost-benefit analysis, information economics, public
policy, and philosophy of education. The Case Against Education isn’t just a dogged, interdisciplinary defense of the signaling model of education; it clearly presents the standard social science of education prior to criticizing it.
The Myth of the Rational Voter is perfect for any class in public choice, political economy, or political psychology. It also works well for any class on democracy, political theory, and even intro econ. Myth of the Rational Voter earnestly defends the anti-democratic, pro-market vision of public choice that Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains falsely attributes to James Buchanan.
Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids is perfect for any class on economics of the family, population economics, sociology of the family, or behavioral genetics. It also works well for any class on population ethics, risk analysis, or demography. SRtHMK provides a parent’s-eye view of the science of nature and nurture – and hammers home the connection between how you raise your kids and how many kids you’ll want to have. And along the way, you get a lively update of Julian Simon’s analysis of the neglected upsides of population.
Both The Case Against Education and The Myth of the Rational Voter are published by Princeton University Press. If you’re interested in course adoption, Julie Haenisch of PUP is happy to chat.
READER COMMENTS
Bob Murphy
Jun 1 2018 at 4:14pm
“Contrary to what you may have heard…”
Oh Bryan…
Alan Goldhammer
Jun 1 2018 at 5:36pm
Perfection is in the eyes of the beholder. Your view of perfection is likely not shared by many others.
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Dispensary Vancouver
Jun 4 2018 at 11:55pm
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Jun 5 2018 at 1:48am
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Peter Morcombe
Jun 5 2018 at 2:09am
I just finished reading your “Case Against Education”. IMHO opinion one of the best ever written on this subject…..I am awestruck….gobsmacked.
I am one of those technophiles who you rightly deride. My day job was at Duke university leading a project to build the world’s brightest gamma ray source. In this capacity I managed a staff of about 30 people.
My (unpaid) volunteer job involved creating K-12 charter schools. To date I have written over 20 charter proposals, leading to the creation of nine schools and I was chairperson for a board that managed six of them. These schools had a full time staff of over 200 and 2,500 students. One of them was a “Virtual School”.
I am the practical guy who builds something useful based on brilliant ideas from people like you. My charter schools were based on the ideas of William Willimon, the dean of the Duke chapel who wrote a book titled “Downsizing the USA”:
http://www.gallopingcamel.info/free.html
Willimon inspired FREE and served on our board until he was co-opted to lead a United Way drive.
If you can spare an hour I would be happy to meet with you as my home is less than five hours from your office. You might inspire something useful. Here is a link relating to FREE:
http://morcombe.net/Senate/Education.htm
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