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Seanáthair's avatar

Freddie, I'm a relatively new reader of yours and, having read your (excellent) book and columns on the inevitability of ability-based hierarchies of educational and other achievement, I'm left with one lingering question. While I accept (and even admire) your honest Marxist support for a more redistributive economic system to ameliorate the impact of these hierarchies on the of quality of life of those on the lower rungs of these partially-inherited hierarchies, how do you propose to continue to create the wealth necessary to fund such a system if you significantly reduce the incentives (prosperity for one's own family, desire for social status, greed, or just "winning the race") that drive the relatively more gifted to seek places on the higher rungs through constructive achievement? I concede that we might live in a better world if these aspects of human nature weren't so central to the efficient creation of the goods and services needed to raise an entire society's standard of living, but I haven't seen much historical evidence that such a system is actually possible over the long term. (Some might argue that Scandinavia offers hopeful examples in this regard, but I question whether their social welfare systems could be supported over the long term if those countries were required to bear the true economic costs of their own national security, currently subsidized by the United States--because, I hasten to add, it's in our interests to do so.). I'm sincerely curious!

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Mari, the Happy Wanderer's avatar

I loved your book, which I had pre-ordered and read immediately when it arrived. You are advocating for an educational system that is similar to what exists throughout Europe (where I live): students are tracked according to academic ability, based on testing that is done usually around fifth grade. Only about 10–20 percent of students go on to university; the rest do apprenticeships and job training. And at the end of these trainings is a well-paying job and a social safety net.

So many Americans I talk with are horrified by this system, but really, is our way more humane? For every academically talented kid in Europe who tests poorly and has to go to an apprenticeship rather than university, there are likely a hundred students in the US who we push into college even though they’re not able to do the work, and who wind up dropping out deep in debt with no prospects for getting a job at a wage sufficient to pay back that debt (because credential inflation means lots of jobs now require a BA when a generation ago a high school diploma was needed).

We readily acknowledge the different levels of ability in sports, music, acting, art, and other fields. Why should academics, uniquely, be the only area where everyone is exactly equal?

Anyway, thank you for writing your book, which reframes the education discussion in an important way.

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