I'm going to be FAMOUS for all of about 15 seconds. On my drive home Thursday evening I heard the following commentary on NPR's Marketplace programEducation works as a placebo effect
TYLER COWEN: There's lots of evidence that placebos work in medicine; people get well simply because they think they're supposed to.
But we're learning that placebos apply to a lot of other areas and that includes higher education. Schooling works in large part because it makes people feel they've been transformed. Think about it: college graduates earn a lot more than non-graduates, but studying Walt Whitman rarely gets people a job. In reality, the students are jumping through lots of hoops and acquiring a new self-identity.
The educators and the administrators stage a kind of "theater" to convince students that they now belong to an elite group of higher earners. If students believe this story, many of them will then live it.
Dr. Cohen goes about the cost of prestige and status, but I pretty knew how I wanted to respond at this point. After dinner I found the Marketplace site, checked the commenting guidelines and left this comment:
I acknowledge what Dr. Cowen says about the value of confidence and self identity, but higher education is anything but a placebo. Learning itself is a critical skill which is gained through study, and that study might be biology, business, physics, physiology, zoology, or any number of other areas, including Walt Whitman. In a pinch, maybe even economics will do.
A college degree does not mean a student has mastered a subject, rather it is an indication that the student is teachable, and capable of jumping through the higher hoops of their profession.
I figured there was a good chance of this getting selected to be read on the air - because my comment was about the only one under the 150 word limit. I was right too, because I got an email from Alison Gilbert asking if I would record an edited version for broadcast on the letters segment:
Higher Education is anything but a placebo. Learning itself is a critical skill which is gained through study. That study might be biology, business, physics, physiology, zoology – even Walt Whitman. A college degree does not mean a student has mastered a subject, rather it is an indication that the student is teachable and capable of jumping through the higher hoops of their profession.
So there you have, my 15 seconds of fame broadcast for all to hear on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 9th. Tune in your radio or listen in online.
And for the record, I agree with Dr. Cohen that confidence and self image are an important part of education, and that the costs of education are getting out-of-hand. However, education is not a placebo; you just can't fake that.
[UPDATE] Here is a link to the September 8th Letter segment and text.
Nope, it's not a placebo at all! No matter if you study something you'll never use again, the very process forces you to learn to organize your thoughts and express them. The very fact of graduating (well, for most) is a demonstration of sticking with a project to the end, even if that project gets redefined en route (and how many "real life" don't get modified?). Confidence and self-image, yes, but with something behind the façade!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that college education is a placebo, but I wonder whether there is some placebo effect to a "name brand" education. Are Ivy League graduates better educated than their counterparts from a respected state university?
ReplyDeleteNanU: Absolutely. I would agree with Cohen there are some jobs for which a formal education is not required, and there are some neducated people that are just as capable of learning as a college graduate, but that doesn't apply to jobs that require "technical" knowledge. You my do well as an entrepreneur without an education, but you can't learn genetics or higher mathematics "on the job".
ReplyDeleteJohn: Good point, and that might have been what Cohen was getting at. The placebo may then be as much for the employer as it is for the student.
I really don't think Cohen intended that there is no real value to education, instead he was trying to rile people up by taking a contrary view about this alternate value of education. It seems to have worked. :-)
I'm not sure about the name brand thing, but I do think that people rise to the occassion, and being surrounded by smarter people makes you push harder yourself. It's who you're around. So if name-brand institutions can afford to be more choosy in their students, there's a selection of possible classmates/roommates/people you run into that has an effect in addition to the difficulty of the coursework (which might be the same).
ReplyDeleteWhat you all said, I have screamed at the radio while on the way to work. You guys sound much calmer, at least.
ReplyDeleteSteven: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteCongrat! Its great you pointed that out DC, that damaging statement of education being a placebo gives people the wrong ideas. It would be frightening how such a thing can be an easy excuse for complacency in such hard times.
ReplyDeleteI tuned in my radio last night just in time for the letters segment. It took me three tries last Friday, but I finally managed to not trip over the words "Walt Whitman". Thanks to Alison Gilbert's editing for making it sound like I speak English. :-)
ReplyDeleteI got an excited call last night from my brother and sister-in-law, who were listening to Marketplace in the car. Apparently my email announcement to family didn't make it to everyone, and they were quite surprised when I jumped out of their radio.
EDIT: I added a link to the Letters segment.
ReplyDelete