CHAPTER 1 The Magic of Education
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lecture, write, and think my thoughts. These are virtually my only marketable skills.
Note:CONFESSIONE
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The Ivory Tower routinely ignores the real world.
Note:VERA
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Employers care deeply about professors’ opinions.
Note:ASIMMETRIA STRANA
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defer to teachers’ opinions when they decide whom to interview,
Note:OMAGGIO
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financial benefits.
Note:SONO REALI
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failed investments in education
Note:UN MITO SENZA BASI
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High school graduates earn more than dropouts, college grads earn more than high school grads, and holders of advanced degrees do better still.
Note:UN FATTO
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about 10%.
Note:UN ANNO IN PIÙ DI SCUOLA
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better quality of life, and lower unemployment.
Note:ALTRI BENEFIT
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Otherworldly Education
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why.
Note:PERCHÈ AL DATORE INTERESSANO I VOTI?
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schools teach their students useful job skills.
Note:ORTODOSSIA DEL CAPITALE UMANO
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Literacy and numeracy
Note:PER LA BASE...MA
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students spend thousands of hours studying subjects irrelevant
Note:PRIMO PROB...L IRRILEVANZA
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Why do English classes focus on literature and poetry instead of business and technical writing?
Note:DILEMMA
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history? Trigonometry? Art? Music? Physics? “Physical Education”? Spanish? French? Latin!
Note:ESEMPIO
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educators teach what they know—and
Note:UNA SPIEGAZIONE
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schools boost students’ income
Note:MA
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why do they entrust students’ education to people so detached from the real world?
Note:I DATORI DI LAVORO
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your job almost certainly won’t require knowledge of geometry, French, world history,
Note:OVVIAMENTE
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Arts and Literature, Biological Science, Historical Studies, International Studies, Philosophy and Values, Physical Science, and Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Note:ALTRO CURRICULUM
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statistics and econometrics—in
Note:UNICHE MATERIE IN ECON CHE SERIE ONO SUL LAVORO
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emphasize mathematical proofs,
Note:E NEANCHE TANTO
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broadening students’ horizons.
Note:FORSE L Leggi BBIETTIVO È UN ALTRO
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studying foreign languages, so there must be lots of translators.
Note:IL MARZIANO INFERISCE
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A thriving market in literary criticism
Note:ALTRA INFERENZA
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typical worker occasionally solves quadratic equations
Note:ALTRA INFERENZA
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that economy is out of this world.
Note:IL MONDO DELLE NUVOLE
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compensation and job satisfaction
Note:COSE CHE NN SI FANNO
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Strategies for breaking into various industries?
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learning how to write a resume or affect a can-do attitude?
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The way our education system transforms students into paid workers seems like magic.
Note:MAGIA
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Students rapidly forget most of what they learn because “they’ll never need to know it again.”
Note:ALTRO FATTO
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As far as I can tell, the only marketable skill I teach is “how to be an economics professor.”
Note:SORPRESI GLI STESSI PROFESSORI
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understand the market for marriage,
Note:A CHE SERVE?
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employers decide students who fail my class aren’t worth interviewing. Abracadabra.
Note:MA
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students to become economics professors,
Note:GLI UNICI SENZA MAGIE
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I don’t know how to do the jobs most of my students are going to have.
Note:IGNORANZA
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Making Magic Pay
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academic success is a strong signal of worker productivity.
Note:SPIEGAZ DELLA PUBBLICITÀ...AGENZIA PUBBLICITARIA
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preexisting traits you reveal
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Certifying preexisting skills
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my condemnation is devastating.
Note:PROF
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impress educators with their brilliance and industry—or
Note:LO STUDENTE
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Basics of Signaling
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Michael Spence, Kenneth Arrow, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Schelling, and Edmund Phelps—all
Note:CONTRIBUTI
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Michael Spence’s work on signaling
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different types of people. Types could differ in intelligence, conscientiousness, conformity, whatever.
Note:PRIMO ELEMENTO
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individual’s type must be nonobvious. You can’t discover
Note:SECONDO
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types must visibly differ on average;
Note:TERZO
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“Which worker sends the best signals?”
Note:LA DOMANDA DEL DATORE
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measure conformity.
Note:DIFFICILE
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crew cuts
Note:PIÙ CONFO
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mohawks.
Note:MENO CONFO
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prudent employers treat hairstyle as a signal
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hiring by coin flip.
Note:ALTERNATIVA
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crew cuts pay.
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signaling sows the seeds of its own destruction.
Note:SEGNALE SIMULABILE VALORE ZERO
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viable signals must be less costly for types in higher demand.
Note:REGOLA
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rebels detest “square” haircuts,
Note:COSTO EMOZIONALE
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a gray flannel suit.
Note:SEGNALE COMPLETO
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The “on average” qualifier is crucial.
Note:IL SEGNALE HA SEMPRE UN RUMORE
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Clear signals carry a strong stigma, fuzzy signals a weak stigma.
Note:STIGMA
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statistical discrimination”:
Note:ALTRO NOME DEL MODELL
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stereotypes to save time and money.
Note:CONOSCENZA X STEREOTIPI
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The elderly pay higher life insurance premiums
Note:ES...STEREOTIPO X CUI I VECCHI MUOIONO PRIMA
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Cab drivers are more willing to pick up a young man in a suit than a young man in gang colors
Note:TAXISTI
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Statistical discrimination may be unfair and ugly, but it’s hardly weird or implausible.
Note:È OVUNQUE...È ANCHE NELLA SCUOLA
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What Does Education Signal?
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the ideal student is well behaved, unaggressive, docile, patient, meticulous, and empathetic
Note:STUDENTE IDEALE
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likely to please the teacher.
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economists have kept the model in a ghetto.
Note:LA SORTE DEL MODELLO SEGNALETICO
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haircut, clothes, punctuality, polite laughter at interviewers’ jokes.
Note:SEGNALI MINORI
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your education.
Note:SEGNALE MAGGIORE
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education is just a signal of intelligence.
Note:PRIMA IPOTESI
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Education really is a strong signal of intelligence—and
Note:IN EFFETTI...CORRELAZIONE
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SAT scores,
Note:BASTA MOLTO MENO A SEGNALARE L INTELLIGENZA
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education signals not just intelligence, but conscientiousness—the student’s discipline, work ethic, commitment to quality, and so forth.
Note:COSCIENZIOSITÀ...MA AMCORA NN BASTA
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Jenn spent twenty hours a week earning her college degree part time. Karen, in contrast, spent twenty hours a week creating the world’s biggest ball of yarn.
Note:COSCIENZIOSITÀ CONVENZIONALE E TRASGRESSIVA
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equally smart;
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equally conscientious.
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challenging project
Note:ENTRAMBI
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she toiled in the service of socially approved goals.
Note:LA CONFORMISTA
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eccentric vanity project.
Note:LA STRANA
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deference to social expectations;
Note:LA PRIMA
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team player.
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When the boss says, “Jump,” she’ll ask, “How high?”
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education also signals conformity—the
Note:CONCLUSIONE
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If you defy these expectations,
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denounce credentialism,
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humbly hold your tongue.
Note:PIUTTOSTO
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Hippies strive to look, talk, and act like fellow hippies.
Note:MA TUTTI SONO CONFORMISTI IN SENSO GENERICO...IL LAVORO CERCA UN C.PARTICOLARE
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modern model workers.
Note:UN RITRATTINO
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team players.
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deferential to superiors, but not slavish.
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congenial toward coworkers but put business first.
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dress and groom conservatively.
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nothing remotely racist or sexist,
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away from anything construable as sexual harassment.
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they know and do what’s expected,
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Employers don’t have to tell
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intelligence, conscientiousness, and conformity.
Note:RICAPITOLIAMO
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prosperous family,
Note:ALTRI SEGNALI MENO INTERESSANTI DELLA LAUREA...AL DATORE INTERESSANO MENO
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cosmopolitan
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the road to academic success and the road to job success are paved with the same materials.
Note:LE STESSE TRE DOTI
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conscientious worker labors until the job’s done right.
Note:LO STESSO CON I COMPITI
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Employers are running businesses, not logic classes.
Note:FINCHÈ LE ECCEZIONI RESTANO TALU IL MODELO FUNZIONA
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Locked-In Syndrome
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Education signals a package of socially desirable strengths.
Note:SOLO LÌ C È IL PACCHETTO...INTELL COSC E CONF SONO SEGNALABILI ANCHE SEPARATAMENTE
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the trifecta:
Note:PRESENTE SEMPRE AI VERTICI
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probably strong in at least one, and woefully deficient in none.
Note:CHI SI LAUREA
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if you’re so smart, why didn’t you go to college?
Note:IL SOSPETTO CHE DESTA IL SUPERSAT
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The higher your scores, the more suspicious your missing diploma becomes.
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If you have the work ethic to copy the dictionary by hand, completing college should be a cakewalk—unless
Note:ALTRO SOSPETTO
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“alternative” signals of conformity signal nonconformity.
Note:C È POI IL PARADOSSO DEI SEGNALI ALTERNATIVI DEL CONFORMISMO
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Telling employers, “I’m self-taught” or “I graduated from a brand-new Internet university” makes you sound weird.
Note:ALTERNATIVE AL PERCORSO CLASSICO
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“I’m not Jewish, but I keep kosher to prove I can conform to intricate rules.”
Note:FREAK
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Students are supposed to graduate;
Note:TUTTO IL RESTO È SOSPETTO
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Consider norms against bragging.
Note:L IN PIÙ È MAL CONSIDERATOSE NN ORTODOSSO...SPACCONATA
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while employers rarely request applicants’ standardized test scores, applicants remain free to provide these scores
Note:ESEMPIO
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Few do. What do applicants have to lose?
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You’re doing something that’s “simply not done.”
Note:CONSUETUDINE
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The process is self-reinforcing:
Note:Ttttttttt COME SI ARRIVA ALLA CREDENZA CHE LA SCUOLA SIA SPECIALE
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Employers notice the link between success at school and success at work,
Note:1
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Talented, motivated people notice education’s gatekeeping role, so
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The frequency of talented, motivated people without a strong academic record falls, tightening the link between success at school and success at work.
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alternatives to traditional education already exist,
Note:EPPURE
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you face a stark choice: do what’s socially expected, or take your chances with the outcasts.
Note:IL DILEMMA DEL TALENTUOSO
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In short, education suffers from what I call “locked-in syndrome.”
Note:CONCLUSIONE
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Signaling “Simply Doesn’t Make Sense”
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it contradicts experience.
Note:L OBIEZIONE MAI FATTA
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the leading objections insist experience is deceiving.
Note:LA VERA OBIEZIONE
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Signaling=100% signaling. The most egregious straw man treats signaling as all-or-nothing.
Note:VIZIETTO ALL OR NOTHING
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curriculum clearly contains useful subjects;
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Signaling=“Signaling intelligence alone.”
Note:ALTRO ASSUNTO CHE SVIA
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Then they demolish it.
Note:IL CRITICO CHE SBAGLIA MDELLO
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But so does an IQ test.
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Signaling shouldn’t take years.
Note:ALTRA OBIEZ
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For many traits, however, there are no definitive “show-stopping”
Note:RISPOSTA...GUARDA I TRATTI IMPLICATI
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When the competition sends better signals and you don’t,
Note:ESSENZIALE
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A lazy rebel will toil and conform for two semesters if the wage is right.
Note:IL CONFORMISMO
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easy-to-fake traits like conscientiousness and conformity
Note:FALSIFICAZIONE
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Giving up early is surrender.
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“You can’t fool the market for long.”
Note:ALTRA OBIEZIONE
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employers discern their employees’ true productivity in a matter of months.
Note:QUEL CHE SI PENSA
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companies rather quickly discover
Note:GARY BECKER
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researchers explicitly gauge the speed of employer learning, the process seems to take years or decades, not months—especially
Note:EVDENZA
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This hardly makes signaling futile.
Note:MA ANCHE SE..
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reason to signal is to get your foot in the door—to
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it is no small affair.
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“You can’t fool the market for long” doesn’t imply “The market won’t overlook you forever.”
Note:CONCLUSIONE
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employers can’t afford to give every applicant an interview,
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What’s a diamond in the rough to do? Get the credentials
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Becker’s critique also naively assumes that employers automatically dismiss any worker who falls short of expectations.
Note:LICENZIARE È MOLTO DURA
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firms are not run by robots.
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they develop fraternal feelings
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the blow to remaining workers’ morale.
Note:LA PAURA DEL LICENZIATORE
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After a firm hires you, you’re part of the team.
Note:SENTIMENT
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ALTERNATIVE...OTTIME REFERENZE
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“dehiring.”
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The more firms fear to fire, the more educational signaling matters.
Note:CONC
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Relying on credentials is a good way to avoid getting stuck in the first place.
Note:ASSUMERE MALE
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Imagine, however, that you have the world’s only perfectly forged Harvard diploma. With any luck, you’ll ride the Harvard gravy train for years.
Note:UN FALSO...BOCCONI CASSINO
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Riddle Me This
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Higher education is the only product where the consumer tries to get as little out of it as possible.
Note:IL MENO POSSIBILE
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The best education in the world is already free.
Note:AULE APERTE
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anyone can study at Princeton for free. While tuition is over $45,000 a year,42 anyone can show up and start attending classes.
Note:UN FATTO
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If you ask permission to sit in, most professors will be flattered. What a rare pleasure to teach someone who wants to learn!
Note:ONORATO
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you can have either a Princeton education without a diploma, or a Princeton diploma without an education.
Note:DILEMMA
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Failing versus forgetting.
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How would your career have been different if you flunked all the classes you’ve forgotten?
Note:DOMANDINA SEMPLICE SEMPLICE
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failing a class and forgetting a class would have identical career consequences.
Note:IMMAGINA SOLO SE...
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claim studying a subject improves you in subtle ways
Note:RIFUGIARSI IN CALCIO D'ANGOLO
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Educational psychologists have spent a century measuring such subtle learning;
Note:UN SECOLO DI STUDI PER CAPIRE COSA
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My Spanish teachers’ official goal was to teach me Spanish. It was their native language.
Note:ESEMPIO DI INTROSPEZIONE
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signaling can explain these facts without torturing them
Note:SOLUZIONE MOLTO PIù SEMPLICE
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you were lacking in intelligence, conscientiousness, and/or conformity—and
Note:TU HAI QUALCOSA ANCHE SE NON SAI PIù NULLA
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Easy As.
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Students struggle to win admission to elite schools. Once they arrive, however, they hunt for professors with low expectations.
Note:ALLA RICERCA DEL PROF DALLA MANICA LARGA...PERCHè?
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George Mason students know I’m not an easy A; their future employers don’t. Anyone who likes money and dislikes studying has an obvious two-part strategy:
Note:LA DOPPIA STRATEGIA
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Cheating.
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cheating is futile.
Note:NEL MODELLO DEL CAPITALE UMANO
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all educators who try to prevent cheating are wasting their time.
Note:ALTRA IMPLICAZIONE ASSURDA DEL MODELLO CAPITALE UMANO
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All exams might as well be take-home.
Note:CONSEGUENZA LOGICA
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Signaling, in contrast, explains why cheating pays—and
Note:TUTTO QUADRA
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detecting and punishing cheaters preserve the signaling value
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Why do students rejoice when the teacher cancels class?
Note:TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT ORA BUCA
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If human capital purists are right, such jubilation is bizarre.
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Once they’re in college, myopic, immature students can unilaterally skip class whenever they like.
Note:ALL UNIVERSITA' NON CI SONO STUDENTI IMMATURI...ALMENO TRA I FREQUENTANTI
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When your teacher cancels class, everyone learns less, leaving your relative performance unimpaired.
Note:LA RISPOSTA OVVIA CHE IL PURISTA DEL CAPITALE UMANO NON PUO' ACCETTARE
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Lead into Gold
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education turns lead into gold.
Note:MAGIA
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both sculptors and appraisers have the power to raise the market value of a piece of stone. The sculptor raises the market value of a piece of stone by shaping it. The appraiser raises the market value of a piece of stone by judging it.
Note:ANALOGIA...COME ALZARE IL VALORE DI UNA PERSONA...PROFESSORE VALUTATORE...PERCENTUALI
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“How much of what we do is sculpting,
LA DOMANDA
