Category: Education
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Financial literacy classes don’t work — and we keep funding them anyway
Decades of research show financial literacy education barely changes behavior. Here’s why we keep funding it, and what actually moves the needle.
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STEM hype has produced a generation of mediocre engineers
Two decades of pushing every kid into STEM produced enrollment numbers, not excellence. The result is a labor market drowning in average engineering talent.
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Dual enrollment is the best-kept secret in American education
Dual enrollment lets high schoolers earn real college credit cheaply. Outcomes are strong, costs are low, and most families have no idea it exists. Here’s why it matters.
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The university as we know it won’t survive the next twenty years
Demographic decline, cost inflation, and credential alternatives are converging. Most US colleges are unlikely to look like themselves by 2045.
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PhDs are an exploitation pipeline and the academy knows it
Doctoral programs run on cheap labor, vague timelines, and dim job prospects. Universities have the data and keep the pipeline open anyway.
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Affirmative action ending will hurt students it was supposed to help
The Supreme Court ended race-conscious admissions in 2023. Early data on enrollment shifts suggests the costs land hardest on the students the policy aimed to help.
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Pass/fail grading is a participation trophy in adult clothing
Pass/fail grading sounds like enlightened pedagogy, but the structure consistently rewards the median and punishes high effort. Here’s what the research shows.
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Standardized tests are the fairest part of admissions, not the least
Test-optional policies were sold as equity wins. The data tells a more complicated story, and standardized tests may be admissions’ most level playing field.
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For-profit colleges are scams and accreditors enable them
For-profit colleges have been documented to mislead students, saddle them with debt, and produce poor outcomes. Accreditors keep certifying them anyway.
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Federal student loans caused tuition inflation, full stop
Tuition tripled in real terms while loans expanded freely. The economics aren’t subtle: easy money produced rising prices, and the Bennett hypothesis was right.