Bryan Caplan, economics professor at George Mason University, proposes radical alternatives to standard public school teacher recruitment on the a16z Podcast.
“So, basically, it seems like we'd go and replace a lot of teachers from, you know, better schools, and with master's degrees, and with more experience, with just enthusiastic, fun, young teachers. You know, maybe people haven't even finished high school.”
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More from Bryan Caplan
Opinion
Caplan: The ideal educational model is complete separation of school and state
“I think the best would be separation of school and state. And just get government out of education entirely.”
Bryan CaplanJan 2, 2019▶ 31:53a16z Podcast | The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow's End
Insight
Caplan: Schooling signals worker capability rather than teaching practical skills
“Well, if you go and do well in your Aristotle class, your foreign language class, this, though useless in terms of what you will do, it is impressive. It is convincing. It's a way of selling people on your value as a worker.”
Bryan CaplanJan 2, 2019▶ 3:43a16z Podcast | The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow's End
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Caplan: Average adult knowledge of core school subjects is near zero
“I've got data on knowledge of history, government, science, and foreign languages, in addition to literacy and numeracy. Literacy and numeracy, at least there's a credible story, but the other things that I just mentioned, there if you go and look at what adul…”
Bryan CaplanJan 2, 2019▶ 5:30a16z Podcast | The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow's End
AssertionPartly supported
Caplan: Teaching students "how to learn" is mostly wishful thinking
“In the book I review what educational psychologists have determined about this, and the main result is that most of this learning how to learn or learning how to think stuff is wishful thinking. Most of the time when someone learns a subject, the most that the…”
Bryan CaplanJan 2, 2019▶ 6:57a16z Podcast | The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow's End
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Caplan: Increasing school choice does not significantly raise student test scores
“I've looked at least some of the research, and it seems like the idea that if there's a lot more school choice, this will raise test scores a lot, ah, doesn't seem to be true.”
Bryan CaplanJan 2, 2019▶ 18:54a16z Podcast | The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow's End
AssertionSupported
Caplan: Standard credentials and seniority do not predict actual teacher effectiveness
“The main thing known is none of, like, the obvious social science measures of teacher quality predict teacher quality. So, having credentials from better schools, or having more credentials, or even more experience, none of the standard things that are in the …”
Bryan CaplanJan 2, 2019▶ 26:23a16z Podcast | The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow's End
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