General Education Has a Bad Rap

We’ve come to believe that people who specialize early and narrowly—like Tiger Woods, who was already on national television golfing at age 2—have an insurmountable advantage. But the research shows that those stories are in fact the rare exception en route to success, and typically confined to repetitive domains, in which work next year will look ... See more

A 2017 study published by four economists in the United States, Germany, and China analyzed education and employment data in 11 countries with large vocational education or apprenticeship programs, comparing people within each country who had similar backgrounds—including test scores, family background, and years of education—but differed in whethe... See more

We’ve come to believe that people who specialize early and narrowly—like Tiger Woods, who was already on national television golfing at age 2—have an insurmountable advantage. But the research shows that those stories are in fact the rare exception en route to success, and typically confined to repetitive domains, in which work next year will look ... See more

In fact, international research that studied thousands of workers—more than three-quarters of whom did not have tertiary education—produced findings that resonate with a major theme of the book: that sometimes the actions that provide a head start will undermine long-term development, whether that is choosing a career or a course of study, or simpl... See more

“Vocational education has been promoted largely as a way of improving the transition from schooling to work, but it also appears to reduce the adaptability of workers to technological and structural change in the economy.”

People who got narrow, career-focused education were more likely to be employed right out of school and earned more right away, but over time both advantages evaporated; decades later, they had spent less overall time in the labor market and had lower lifetime earnings than workers who received general educations.

it is culturally telling that we habitually hack off the end of the long version: “A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

The early specializers often won in the short-term, and lost in the long run. Workers who received general education, the economists concluded, were better positioned to adapt to change in a wicked world, where work next year might not look like work last year.

In fact, international research that studied thousands of workers—more than three-quarters of whom did not have tertiary education—produced findings that resonate with a major theme of the book: that sometimes the actions that provide a head start will undermine long-term development, whether that is choosing a career or a course of study, or simpl... See more