大象传媒

Education is often seen as a panacea for a liberal civilised society: the more, the better. But what if we鈥檙e wrong? What if the desire to deliver higher education to as many people as possible is actually making society less fair?

Economist Bryan Caplan poked a hornet鈥檚 nest recently with his book 鈥淭he Case Against Education鈥�. It argued passionately that higher education has become a mere signalling exercise for employers 鈥� one which rewarded rote-learning conformism and threw anyone with less than a 2:1 on the scrapheap.

Much admired 鈥� and much criticised 鈥� Caplan鈥檚 book was a call-to-arms for an end to a futile, economically-crippling education arms-race. His solution? Simply pull funding for almost all higher education until its social worth was fully proven.

Advertising guru and behaviourist Rory Sutherland is joined in studio by the Executive Director of the Education Policy Institute Natalie Perera - and down the line by Bryan Caplan himself 鈥� to assess one of liberal society鈥檚 most sacred cows.

Produced by Steven Rajam for 大象传媒 Wales