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PaperclipPerfector  21hr ago (text post)   1001 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Prior to our migration from Reddit, @naraburns posted a review of The Cult of Smart, Freddie deBoer's non-fiction book about the shortcomings of mass education. I keep coming back to it, it was a really perceptive deconstruction of his arguments.

I’m mostly in agreement of the thesis of the book and Caplan’s case against education. The problem as I see it is that we really don’t have enough good jobs to go around, but we can’t admit this so we keep throwing education at the problem hoping that if we can give everyone an education that they will all do fine. But this ignores a whole host of issues: the massive time sink which delays productive work and family formation, the enormous costs to students and society at large, and the diminishing returns on college graduation as more and more students get those degrees. Of course, I think FdB is correct that most people doing any skills based activities will sort themselves into tiers and stay there. The problem is that we don’t have enough other options for kids below the B tier (and with AI on the way, the B tier is likely in trouble too) and the over education of our population is a symptom of the larger problem of not having great options for millions of people who don’t actually belong in school, and the need for the elite students to waste more time proving they’re actually worthy (which I think is probably an MS or MA or MBA by now).

It’s mostly done as an easy out. If you can supposedly get a good job by just pushing through school hard enough, then no one in the ruling class is on the hook for whatever happens to those on the bottom rungs. And it provides a nice sponge for most other social problems as well. A daycare so mom can work instead of raising her kids. An indoctrination center to make the kids believe whatever the state wants the kids to believe. And teachers get to be underpaid social workers and psychiatrists for kids with severe problems.

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