If someone dislikes the color red, hopefully they do not assume everyone else dislike the color red as well, because that would be incorrect and a perfect example of the False Consensus Effect. The False Consensus effect is the false assumption that a belief, behavior, or/and feelings are shared by everyone else. This effect is more common than one might think, same goes to many other biases and effects out there. People tend to forget that there are not always a correct side to every argument, there can be pros and cons to each side. Bryan Caplan is another good example of the False Consensus Effect. He believes everyone finds college boring, but he doesn’t conduct a survey to experiment whether that is really true or not. He bases his evidence off what he believes and he believes there is no positive outcome for those that go to college. As Caplan speaks in an interview, “College a Waste of Time and Money, according to George Mason University Economics Professor“, he makes it seem as if the choice is obvious, but most of his claims or statements are bias. Although Caplan main opinion is not wrong, the assumptions and claims are not accurate and do not apply to every person or college out there.

Who is Bryan Caplan?

Bryan Caplan is an economics professor that teaches at George Mason University in Virginia. He went to college at the University of California and Princeton University. He went viral for a book he wrote, The Case Against Education, which he does his best to encourage people not to go to college. He tries to cut out any good reason to go to college by making those reasons seem pointless or by using statistics to overrule the achievements of college graduates.

Quite a few experts in the same field as Caplan discourage people from reading Caplan’s book as they claim it contains incorrect statistics and false information. One of these experts, Joshua Kim, wrote an entire article disproving facts in Caplan’s book and clarifying the statistics that Caplan left out of context. In Joshua Kim’s article, “The Case Against ‘The Case Against Education'”, he explains, “[V]alidity of signaling theory does not lead to the conclusion that dollars spent on education are a poor investment. There are good educational investments and bad educational investments. There are things that we should invest our scarce dollars on, and things where we should not spend a dime” (Kim). Kim agrees the value of education should be raised higher, but he disagrees with the logic and data Caplan presents. Unless a credible source backs Caplan up, I would not recommend avoiding sources written by Caplan.

Reducing the amount of education in society as a whole is not a good solution to the costs of education.

Caplan explains his summarizes his main point with this line: “[The] big thing that I push is just spending less on education […] just picture if, there was this general reduction in the amount of education that the whole society had, and how this would change the way that employers consider applications” (3:53). Spending less on education is worth it” is a claim that can be backed up, but the logic Caplan backs this idea up with is not accurate and not good enough to dismiss the idea of going to college. His evidence is based purely on a theory, the theory of which if less people have an education, employers would consider applicants differently, not just based on the number of degrees a person has. Caplan also likes to thinks it will be easier for those not going to college than those that do, even though he has never experienced the situations a non college graduate goes through.

Finding a job will be a lot more difficult without a college degree, especially high paying jobs. Kat Tretina, writer of “Is College Worth The Cost? Pros Vs. Cons“, points out the difficulty of getting a job with a college degree versus just a high school diploma: “According to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, two-thirds of jobs required a high school diploma or less before the 1980s. That’s no longer the case. Georgetown University predicts that 70% of all jobs will require some college education by 2027″ (Tretina). As time goes on, it will become a lot more difficult to get a job without some type of college education due to the continuing advancement of society. This is also the reason colleges are getting more expensive as time goes by, because college education is becoming more needed than it used to be to get a job. Kat Tretina points out the unemployment rate for a college graduate versus a non college graduate: “[W]orkers with high school diplomas is $38,792, and they have an average unemployment rate of 3.7% as of 2019, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Northeastern University. By contrast, the median salary for workers with bachelor’s degrees is $64,896, and their unemployment rate is just 2.2% on average” (Tretina). College graduates have the higher chance of getting a high paying job than those that did not go to college. The chances of getting a job and a high salary are very slim. 

College graduates make more than those that didn’t go to college or those that dropped out of college. Kat Tretina mentions that College graduates can earn up to “hundreds of thousands more than those who don’t attend college” (Tretina). People tend to use the argument that the amount of money made by college graduates cancels out with the money spent on a college degree because college can be so expensive. Although a college degree can be very expensive, college graduates usually get paid a higher amount. According to Kat Tretina, the higher wage can eventually make up for the amount spent on the college degree: “[A] college degree still pays off for the majority of graduates. On average, those with a bachelor’s degree earn significantly more than their peers with only a high school diploma.” (Tretina, Forbes). College graduates have a chance to make a easy living once they pay off their student debt, while peers with only a highschool diploma have a low chance of making a large sum of money. 

It is quite a simple reason why employers look for workers with college degrees or experience in the field, they want workers that are qualified for the job. The employer wants someone who can carry out the job in the best, most efficient, and safest way possible. If they hired someone to be a surgeon that didn’t go to college, it could be very dangerous for the patient if the surgeon operating on them did not know how to operate safely and the hospital could get sued. A degree is just something that proves you received the education for that field of expertise. An employer does not just look at degrees, they consider such things like an applicant’s availability, past experience, and character. The employer looks a worker that will best improve the company and be a good match for the company.

If there was a general decrease of education that our world had, it would not change how employers looked at applications. Employers would still look for the more qualified applicants for the job. A general reduction in education would just decrease the improvement and advancement of our society. In “The Case Against ‘The Case Against Education’“, Joshua Kim claims, “Our society does not spend too much on education; we spend too little. Our society does not focus too much on education; we focus too little. We don’t spend too much time in quality postsecondary undergraduate and graduate programs; we spend too little” (Kim). Examples of past advancements that helped society: cars, electricity, computers, roads, credit cards, and ect. A reduction of education would only hold society back from achieving more greatness.

Caplan draws inaccurate conclusions about student “boredom.”

Caplan assumes that everyone who went to college found it boring. Early in the video, he says this: “About 40% of the students are not there. Well, the students who are there, if you just go and look at their faces, I mean, they generally seem painfully bored” (1:21). He uses the attendance rate as evidence to show that kids don’t even enjoy college, when there can be many reasons why a student does not attend the class. Caplan should have conducted a survey to different groups of students of different colleges to receive a fair statistic of the students’ opinion on the matter. He then should have used this survey as evidence for his claim. Kids could find college boring, but Caplan did not use the best statistic to prove that. The likelihood that students found college boring was rather low.

Most of the time, students do not enjoy specific classes, but that is more likely because the class is just not right for them. They need to figure out what they do enjoy and pick a career based on what they do enjoy. President of Denison University states, “Use college to explore and develop new pursuits. Ideally, you will leave college with a passion. . . . For this to happen, though, you have to push yourself to try new things, and be open to, even excited about, reinventing yourself a little,” (Weinberg). This is another reason people drop out of classes or college. They decide it was not the right career path for them or they decided to transfer to another college that works better for them. Jeffery Selingo, writer for the Washington Post, describes the process of which college students spend a lot of time deciding through different career options throughout their first year in college, this “can go a long way to setting the foundation for success throughout their undergraduate careers,” (Selingo). If a student does not like art, they are most likely not going to enjoy the history of art. If learning about the topic is boring, a career in that topic is going to be just as boring, if not more. It takes time and experimenting to figure out what class is best to take. 

Most people do not drop out because the class is boring, they usually drop out due to low academic scores, stress, or a shortage of money. Most people struggle with college because they struggle with life. Selingo explains how such things like depression, self-isolation, or not communicating with others can negatively affect a person’s experience: “A lot of what college comes down to is not what happens in the classroom. It’s about navigating life and building relationships” (Selingo). Many people do not enjoy college because of the other negative factors that influenced the college experience. Selingo also states, “The reasons that students get derailed after their freshman year vary but are mostly related to finances and academics […] according to an annual survey of first-year students nationwide by the University of California at Los Angeles. Nearly half of those students who struggled indicated it was difficult to manage their time effectively” (Selingo). College may not be fun, but it is not boring, instead it can be really stressful and challenging to students. This would be a good reason to not go to college if the person struggles financially, academically, or mentally. It would be best to wait on the idea of college until the person is more stable or to come up with a plan to avoid some of these struggles. Such plans can be applying for internships, going to community college, or joining the army. Caplan could have used this claim instead because there is more examples and stronger evidence to support this claim.

Caplan can not speak for all college graduates, because some really enjoyed their college experience. Many students that are in classes want to be in, say they enjoy learning those topics. One of those types of students, Angela Malaspina, wrote a blog for StudentVoices exclaiming her really good experience in college and voiced which parts of college were her favorite: “[T]he structure of my day is most definitely the thing I love most about college” (Malaspina). Pretty much anyone can enjoy college depending on how they manage time, classes, and themselves. Angela Malaspina made sure to include the big impacts on her from specific learning experiences, projects, or lectures by well-known professors: “The professors I’ve had over the past four years have truly made my college experience that much better. They are always willing do help me with a project, stay after office hours or, come in early to meet me. My professors are always reaching out to me with information about job opportunities and other networking information” (Malaspina). There can be a lot of fun and excitement that people overlook that is not just the social aspect of college.

Fact-Checking: “40% of students are not there.” (1:19)

Caplan mentioned this statistic to prove his claim that students are extremely bored at school. He did not mention where received this statistic. He did not mention if he was referring to just his class, George Mason University, or every college. He was not specific, he was very vague about his statistic. I searched the net for anything close to what Caplan may have been referring to, but it is close too impossible to look for a statement that has not been cited or might not even exist. This statement he made might have been simply an estimate or a guess of what the average attendance was.

Even if he did cite his statistic, it would be a stretch to connect it with students’ boredom. This can be an example of Expectation Bias, he is trying to get the viewer to draw a different conclusion to the statistic based on the way he presents it when the statistic may not even connect with the claim. The reason for students’ absences most likely are because of other factors, not boredom. For example, students may be busy with other school work to attend class. Spaces4Learning surveyed college graduates on their reason for not attending some of their past classes: “11 percent of students mentioned being too busy with other school work to attend class” (“College Students Reveal Why They Skip Class In 140 Characters Or Less”). This is just one of the examples they list. Other reasons include bad weather, feeling sick, a scheduled event, or accidently forgetting. Caplan just did not use the best type of statistic to support his claim and caused himself to be biased instead.

The skills you learn in college are valuable in life and in one’s career.

Caplan suggests that college doesn’t give students skills that are actually helpful for higher wages in their future jobs: “[T]he main reason why people get this big wage premium, isn’t primarily that they are actually learning a lot of useful skills in school” (0:40). Examples of claims that Caplan should have used is that “the cost of those skills are not worth it” or “there are more needed skills that should be taught in college,” but “Students are not learning any useful skills in college” is a claim that can easily be proven wrong. There are many useful intended and unintended skills learned in college.

Selingo explains the survey that was conducted that proved the skills learned in college helped college graduates in their daily lives and work lives: “A Gallup survey of more than 30,000 college graduates found that those who had an internship or similar hands-on experience that allowed them to apply the lessons of the classroom were twice as likely to be engaged in life and work after college” (Selingo). College not only teaches students the necessary skills for a job, the skills they learn can also help in daily activities.

Besides the various types of skills colleges teach for different career paths, there are other skills that are earned just being in a class. Many people do not realize the importance of such basic skills because they are not taught directly. Jeremy Hyman and Lynn Jacob write in their blog, “11 Skills You’ll Need for a Career”, praising the useful skills unintentionally learned and how “[s]tudents often don’t recognize how important writing skills are in many professions” (Jacob and Hyman). A paper that sounds very convincing will have a much better impact than a poorly written paper. The ability to lead a team is another skill that Jeremy Hyman and Lynn Jacob mentioned that employers like to see: “Teamwork is often a key factor in job success […] Group projects at college or work with study groups can give you valuable experience in working with a team. Doing an internship or participating in a research project with your professors also gives you ways to practice working well with others” (Jacob and Hyman). Having leadership and social skills can get you very far in life. It can make you very successful in your job or help even help you make connections to future business partners. Being a good leader can get managing positions, which normally have higher benefits. Many other examples of useful skills learned in college have been mentioned in the article, “11 Skills You’ll Need for a Career”.

Conclusion

If Bryan Caplan would have done more research from credible sources he probably would have found better claims and evidence he could use to support his topic. His claims are too vague and do not apply to every person or college. There is examples of Expectation Bias and the False Consensus Effect found in his statements. He only looks at the difficulty of those that go to college, but does not discuss the difficulty of those that did not go to college. Caplan is a college graduate and has a job at George Mason University, so he would not understand the life of those that did not go to college. Not having a college degree could have a negative impact on a person’s life due to the level of education needed for a high paying job. There are some good reasons not to go to college, but none that were mentioned by Caplan. This post is not to discourage or encourage the idea of college, the purpose of this post is to clarify the mistakes Caplan makes. Bad statistics and reasons indicate that the source is not credible.

Featured image is a screenshot from the video “College a Waste of Time and Money, according to George Mason University Economics Professor“

Revision: Headings updated May 2024