The education apocalypse : how it happened and how to survive it

153 Pages·2015·1.28 MB·English

by  Reynolds

Praise for
The Education Apocalypse

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE NEW SCHOOL
Mr. Reynolds puts forward a critique of American universities
that will ring true to anyone who has attended one recently.
— THE ECONOMIST
While Glenn Reynolds’s book is by no means the first to
address these crises and offer solutions, it ranks as one of
the best. — NATIONAL REVIEW
Nobody has been more persistent and perceptive in calling
attention to the higher-education bubble. Totally worth a
read. — NICK GILLESPIE, Reason
Reynolds does an important service. During his discussion of
higher education reform, he reminds us to think about what
a college degree is really for. — THE WEEKLY STANDARD
It’s a book well worth reading for two reasons: One, it’s a
reminder of the endless creativity of free minds in the free
market and, two, as Reynolds notes throughout his work,
something that can’t go on, won’t.
— THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Many experts will tell you how to pick a college. Few question
the system as a whole. With The New School, Glenn Reynolds
speaks the truth: individuals must chart for themselves the
course of their education and ignore the con men and loan
sharks who call themselves academic administrators.
— PETER THIEL
founding CEO of PayPal and co-founder
and chairman of Palantir Technologies
Glenn Reynolds, the megablogger better known as Instapun-
dit, is an invaluable fount of information and transmitter of
ideas. He was one of the first to identify the higher education
bubble that is now bursting all around us. In The New School,
he turns his attention to K-12 and shows us how an education
system designed to produce docile industrial workers can be
transformed into one serving students in the Information
Age. Well worth the attention of anyone concerned about
America’s future. — MICHAEL BARONE
Washington Examiner, American Enterprise Institute,
co-author of The Almanac of American Politics,
and author of Shaping Our Nation: How Surges of Migration
Transformed America and Its Politics
If you care about the future of higher education, read this
book! Glenn Reynolds approaches the topic with an amazing
level of insight and wit. The book is spot-on.
— SEBASTIAN THRUN
research professor at Stanford University
and co-founder of Udacity
No one keeps a closer eye on colleges and their discontents
than Glenn Harlan Reynolds. Some of the best reform ideas
pop up first on his great site, Instapundit. — JOHN LEO
editor of Minding the Campus
Glenn Reynolds has written the best short critique of Amer-
ican education I have ever read. Fact-laden but not dull,
entertaining but not frivolous, Reynolds shows that our
expensive system of schools delivering dubious outcomes will
be fundamentally transformed by economic necessity and con-
sumer frustration, despite the resistance of teacher unions,
tenured professors, and others. A tour de force.
— RICHARD VEDDER
director at the Center for College
Affordability and Productivity
THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE

The
Education
Apocalypse
HOW IT HAPPENED
AND HOW TO SURVIVE IT
GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS
ENCOUNTER BOOKS
NEW YORK · LONDON
© 2014, 2015 by Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Preface © 2015 by Glenn Harlan Reynolds
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601,
New York, New York, 10003.
First American edition published in 2014 by Encounter Books,
an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc.,
a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.
Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com
Manufactured in the United States and printed on acid-free paper.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
ANSI/NISO 39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION PUBLISHED IN 2015.
PAPERBACK EDITION ISBN: 978-1-59403-791-7
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
HAS CATALOGUED THE HARDCOVER AS FOLLOWS:
Reynolds, Glenn H.
The education apocalypse: how it happened and how to survive it /
Glenn Harlan Reynolds.
pages cm
Originally published in hardback in 2014 as: The new school :
how the information age will save American education from itself.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59403-710-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-59403-711-5 (ebook) 1. Public schools—United States.
2. Educational change—United States.
3. Education—Effect of technological innovations on. I. Title.
LA217.2.R495 2014
370.973—dc23
2013033387
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments · vii
IN THE BEGINNING
From the 1st Century and Before to the 21st · 1
HIGHER EDUCATION
The Bursting Bubble · 13
EDUCATION
From “Higher” to “Lower” · 63
SOME QUASI-PREDICTIONS · 89
SOME CONCLUDING THOUGHTS · 97
Afterword · 103
Notes · 105
Index · 121