Hot take: maybe education COULD work?

Food for Saturday's book club

Yes, we’ve noticed the skulls.

This coming Saturday is our next “book” club, and I’ve got a dizzy of an essay that I’d love your help with.

Saturday, June 22
3pm Eastern Daylight / 12pm Pacific Daylight

The essay we’ll be talking about is an argument that (contra some very thoughtful writers) schooling actually could work.

I started working on the essay when I noticed that three of my favorite writers — who otherwise agree about hardly anything — seemed to be converging on the idea that schools can’t work.

To lay my cards on the table, I love these writers. (They are, in no particular order, Freddie deBoer, Bryan Caplan, and Richard Hanania.) They challenge my assumptions. They’re fresh and clear and piercing. They disagree about nearly everything… but they seem to agree that school reform is a waste of time.

(Am I wrong about this? Somebody please tell me that I’m wrong about this. In any case, I’ve seen this belief becoming the default position of many smart people who follow them.)

How can I put this responsibly?

THIS IS A TERRIBLE MISTAKE THAT TURNS SMART PEOPLE AWAY FROM ONE OF OUR HISTORICAL MOMENT’S MOST IMPORTANT TASKS.

If we can do education well (I’m going to sound like a lunatic here) we can lift generations out of jaw-dropping ignorance. We can elevate our cultural conversations, which are now stuck at the stupidest conceivable levels. We can make rational thinking normal.

Anyhoo, I thought it was important to push against this. I had been planning to write a careful piece later this summer… and then Scott published his piece on the topic.

I spent the next few days pouring myself into writing the essay below. (It’s below the fold, for paid subscribers. Presumably I’ll be releasing some version of it in the future for everyone.)

And now, I’m trying to figure out what to DO with it.

If you’d like to help, I’ll look forward to seeing you in Saturday’s book club! Per normal, the recording (stripped of participants’ names and faces) will be available afterwards for paid subscribers.