Is Bryan Caplan’s Case Against Education Right For My Kid? A Parent’s On-the-Ground Take
Last Tuesday, I was folding my 17-year-old Jace’s grass-stained soccer uniforms on his bed when he twisted around from his desk and held up his phone. “Mom, look at this. This economist says college is a waste of time, and most of what we learn in school is never used. What if I just skip all this college app nonsense and get a job building websites?” The TikTok audio blared about Bryan Caplan’s The Case Against Education, and I sighed. I’d read the book three years earlier, when my older son was wrapping up his college applications, so I knew exactly what Jace was talking about.
I work 20 hours a week as a paraeducator at our local high school, so I see Caplan’s core point play out every day. Last month, I proctored a 10th grade biology make-up exam, and when the bell rang, I overheard two kids leaning against the lockers. One said, “I can’t even tell you what mitosis is anymore. Why did I cram that for three hours just to forget it 10 minutes later?” That’s exactly what Caplan argues: most of formal education isn’t about building useful skills. It’s about signaling – showing employers and colleges that you can show up, follow rules, and jump through hoops. Most of what you need to know to do a job well, you learn on the job anyway.
My oldest son, Sam, graduated from a four-year university two years ago and works in digital marketing. Over Christmas break, he told me he hasn’t used a single thing he learned in his three required general ed history classes. The only class from college that helps him every day is a random public speaking elective he took to fill a credit requirement. Everything else about his job he learned in his first three months on the team. Caplan isn’t wrong here. We spend tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, and hundreds of hours of our kids’ teen years, checking boxes that don’t actually add any real, usable skill.
Where Caplan loses me is that his framework works a lot better for people with a solid safety net than for the average kid I see walking the halls at school. He talks about dropping out or skipping college like it’s a simple, low-risk choice, but most entry-level jobs, even many trade apprenticeships, still require a high school diploma. Nursing, physical therapy, teaching – all those solid middle-class jobs still require a degree, no matter how much you can learn on the job. The gates are still up, signaling or not.
Last year, a kid I worked with wanted to get into an electrician apprenticeship. He dropped out of high school at 17 because he agreed with Caplan that classes were useless. He couldn’t even get an interview, because every program within 50 miles requires a diploma. He ended up getting his GED last year, and he’s 19 now just starting the application process. He lost two years because he bought the hot take without checking the fine print. Caplan also doesn’t talk much about what school gives kids beyond skills and signaling: for kids who don’t have stable home lives, it’s the only consistent, safe space they have, and it’s often the only place they can access any kind of support or connections. You can’t just write that off as a waste.
That’s why when Jace asked me about the book, I didn’t tell him Caplan was all right or all wrong. We made a few small, concrete changes to our plan, instead of flipping everything upside down. First, starting in 10th grade, we carve out 2-3 hours a week for one usable skill that Jace actually cares about, outside of required school work. This semester, it’s a web design class at the local community center. He just finished his first paid project, a website for the local dog groomer, and made $300. It’s not a full-time job yet, but it’s a skill he can use no matter what path he takes.
Second, I stopped nagging him about every grade. We sat down together and looked up the exact requirements for the community college web development program he’s interested in. They require a 2.5 GPA and a passing grade in algebra and English. Anything above that doesn’t move the needle for admission. So when he got a C+ on his AP US history test last month because he spent the weekend working on the dog groomer website instead of studying, I didn’t ground him. I just asked, “Does this keep you out of the program you want? No? Then what you built this weekend was worth more than an extra 10 points on a test.” That’s a simple question any parent can ask, instead of defaulting to panic over every less-than-perfect grade.
Third, we’re still keeping the basic credentials. Jace is finishing high school, and we’re starting with the two-year associate degree that guarantees an internship at the end. If he wants to go get a four-year degree later, he can. But we’re not paying $40,000 a year for four years of general ed classes he doesn’t need right now.
It’s not a perfect plan. I don’t know if Jace will end up working for himself building websites, or transferring to a four-year school, or changing his mind entirely and becoming a high school teacher. Caplan’s book didn’t give us all the answers, but it did shake us out of the default of just following the path everyone else takes. Last night, Jace showed me the testimonial the dog groomer posted on his new website. She said she’s already booking three extra baths a week because of it. That’s something he never would have gotten from cramming for a biology test. We still don’t have it all figured out, and that’s okay. For right now, that’s enough.
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