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School is all about signaling, not skill-building

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What students know that experts don’t: School is all about signaling, not skill-building

"Academics and administrators also sense the importance of signaling, even if they won't admit it. Why else would they bother to combat cheating? If school were merely a place for students to invest in their skills, cheaters would literally "only be cheating themselves," spending time and tuition for naught. If, however, school is primarily a place to convince firms you're worthy of employment, cheating has a slew of victims. The cheater who successfully impersonates a good student doesn't just rip off whoever hires him. He also taints the prospects of all his peers who toiled for their degrees."

Why Don’t School Buses Have Seatbelts?

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Why Don’t School Buses Have Seatbelts?

"In 2014, my son Harry started kindergarten. He and his pals loaded on the bus and went to school for the day. When they got to their after-school program, the teachers asked the kids what they did that day. Five-year-old Wesley’s response was at the top of the list: “We didn’t wear seat belts on the bus.”

"We have obsessively trained our children to buckle their seat belts from the moment they’re able to. If I try and pull away from a parking spot and Harry’s not buckled in, he lets me know loud and clear. From the first moment they enter an automobile, today’s kids are lashed in place with more protection than Neil Armstrong had when he went to the moon."

"Yet, five years later, many American kids board the school bus and sit on a sheet of upholstered plywood without as much as a lap belt, and we hardly question it.

Why Summer Jobs Don’t Pay

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Why Summer Jobs Don’t Pay

"Why can't kids today just work their way through college the way earlier generations did? The answer to that question isn't psychology. It's math. A summer job just doesn't have the purchasing power it used to, especially when you compare it with the cost of college."

"Let's take the example of a working-class student at a four-year public university who's getting no help from Mom and Dad. In 1981-'82, the average full cost to attend was $2,870. That's for tuition, fees and room and board. The maximum Pell Grant award back then for free tuition help from the government was $1,800. That leaves our hypothetical student on the hook for just about $1,000. Add in a little pocket money, too — say $35 a week. That makes an extra $1,820 for the year on top of the $1,000 tuition shortfall."