Why Leftists Should Favour Cuts to Public Funding for Education Calls to cut public spending on education would typically resonate with a traditional conservative voter and may seem superficially at odds with a leftist mindset. However, this needn’t strictly be the case.

The signalling theory of education states that much of the benefit of schooling comes from the graduate being certified as “smart, conforming, and hard-working enough to be worth interviewing”. That means a few things:

• Plenty of less-educated workers have lower salaries than what they’re worth because they don’t have the stamp on their forehead. • Plenty of more-educated workers have higher salaries than what they’re worth because they do have the stamp. • The education system imposes pointless criticism on students. • The distorted education market is inefficient. • Credential inflation benefits those who can afford the time and money to commit to more education for no benefit other than to edge out other people. • Keeping your head down and working harder doesn’t make up for the smooth ride the educated enjoy. • The labour market is, in many ways, worse for people from poor and uneducated families. • Some children don’t fit the system, and forcing them to do so or punishing them for not succeeding is cruel.