School Is Signaling, Not Learning

The real dominant function of education is not to learn useful material but to credential yourself — to signal to employers that you are smart, conscientious, and conformist enough to complete mildly boring assignments under ambiguous instructions over years. This is shown by puzzles the learning story can't explain: students don't retain or use much of what they learn, college-going bartenders earn more than high-school bartenders, the final year of high school or college is worth as much as the prior three combined despite no extra learning, and you can attend the best classes for free if you don't want the credential.