--- title: What Quality Education Should Teach You description: Educated people should think causally rather than magically canonical: https://time.com/4166790/steven-pinker-broad-education/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-11T05:01:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:24.750Z article:section: Ideas og:title: What Quality Education Should Teach You, According to a Harvard Scientist og:description: Educated people should think causally rather than magically og:url: https://time.com/4166790/steven-pinker-broad-education/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44658c6dd2ec55d7/698877aacd1bbadda36fec61/steven-pinker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Steven Pinker during an interview in New York City on May 22, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Quality Education Should Teach You, According to a Harvard Scientist twitter:description: Educated people should think causally rather than magically twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44658c6dd2ec55d7/698877aacd1bbadda36fec61/steven-pinker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Quality Education Should Teach You, According to a Harvard Scientist > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=c0376a76-1160-4a32-b9c6-d71548b866d9&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Money's Best Colleges 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): Money's Best Colleges 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PT7B6zjp.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2015-07-13. Here's an overview of some top schools in Money's Best Colleges rankings in 2015._ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jan 11, 2016 5:01 AM UTC  Steven Pinker during an interview in New York City on May 22, 2015. Steven Pinker during an interview in New York City on May 22, 2015. Victor J. Blue—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jan 11, 2016 5:01 AM UTC Harvard’s great biologist/psychologist **Steven Pinker** is one of my favorites, even though I’m just starting to get into his work. What makes him great is not just his rational mind, but his [multidisciplinary approach](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/mental-models/). He pulls from many fields to make his (generally very good) arguments. And he’s a rigorous scientist in his own field, even before we get to his ability to synthesize. I first encountered Pinker in reading [Poor Charlie’s Almanack](https://www.poorcharliesalmanack.com/): Charlie Munger gives him the edge over Noam Chomsky and others in the debate over whether the capacity for language has been “built into” our DNA through natural selection. Pinker wrote the bestseller [_The Language Instinct_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061336467/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0061336467&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=XDNBHBDVDN6NXGL3), in which he argued that the capacity for complex language is innate. We develop it, of course, throughout our lives, but it’s in our genes from the beginning (an idea that has since been [criticized](https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429911-000-why-language-is-neither-an-instinct-nor-innate/)). Pinker went on to write books with modest titles like [_How the Mind Works_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393334775/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0393334775&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=TT4W23JTIXOXUHJE), [_The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142003344/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0142003344&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=75GVPITNV2OLB7D2), and [_The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143122010/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0143122010&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=L6TAMGMYZG55SCU7). The latter is a controversial one: Bill Gates [loves it](http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Better-Angels-of-Our-Nature), Nassim Taleb [hates it](http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/longpeace.pdf). You’ll have to make up your own mind. \*\*\* The reason for writing about Pinker is that, while re-reading [William Deresiewicz’s](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/08/william-deresiewicz-learn-how-to-think/) brilliant speech [Solitude and Leadership](https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/), I noticed that he had an [extremely popular piece](https://newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-your-kids-elsewhere) about not sending your kids to Ivy League schools. It’s an interesting argument, though I’m not sure I agree with all of it. A little Googling told me that Pinker, himself a professor at an Ivy League school, responded with an even [better piece](https://newrepublic.com/article/119321/harvard-ivy-league-should-judge-students-standardized-tests) on why Deresiewicz was imprecise in his criticisms and anecdotes. I was fascinated most by Pinker’s discussion of what an elite education _should_ entail. This tells you a lot about his mind: --- > “” --- If this seems familiar to some of you, that’s because it very closely parallels thoughts by Charlie Munger, who has argued many times for [something similar](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/09/munger-worldly-wisdom/) in his demand for multidisciplinary worldly wisdom. We must learn the big ideas from the big disciplines. Notice the buckets Pinker talks about: 13 billion years of organic and inorganic history, 10,000 years of human culture, hundreds of years of modern civilization. These are the most reliable forms of wisdom. So if the education system won’t do it for you, the job must be done anyway. Pinker and Munger have laid out the kinds of things you want to go about learning. Don’t let the education system keep you from having a real education. [Learn how to think](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/01/how-to-think-2/). Figure out how to [spend more time reading](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/05/the-buffett-formula-how-to-get-smarter/). When you do, focus on the most [basic and essential](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/08/what-should-i-read-two-ideas-to-help-guide-us/) wisdom — including [the lessons from history](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/08/will-durant-the-three-lessons-of-biological-history/). Of course, if you’re reading [Farnam Street](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/), you’re already on the right track. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/12/steven-pinker-broad-education/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ## Transcript [00:00] Money Magazine has analyzed hundreds of colleges to [00:04] find the more than 700 that we think offer you the best [00:07] bang for your tuition dollar. We looked at 21 factors in [00:11] three major areas, affordability, quality of education [00:15] and earnings of graduates. The number one value [00:18] college in America right now is one you've heard of. We [00:21] think all of the elite colleges are great values. But [00:24] Stanford stands out because the graduates of Stanford [00:27] tend to earn much more than the graduates of other [00:30] elite schools, about $ 64, 000 a year within five years [00:33] of graduation. That's $ 4000 more even than the [00:36] average ivy league graduate. One of the top 20 value [00:40] colleges in the country is also one of the colleges that [00:43] you might be able to get into. Texas A & M accepts [00:45] almost 70 percent of students and 80 percent of them [00:49] make it to graduation which is a much higher [00:51] percentage than colleges with similar acceptance rates. [00:55] Recent Texas A & M graduates also do very well in the [00:58] job market, earning about $ 57, 000 a year. The [01:01] college that adds the most value, which means the [01:04] college that takes in the most disadvantaged kids and [01:07] gets them to graduation and into good jobs, is Robert [01:10] Morris University. It takes in kids who get Cs and [01:14] maybe some Bs in high school, but it gets 80 % of [01:17] those kids to graduation. Their graduates go on to [01:20] earn about $ 40, 000 within five years. Most [01:24] Americans aren't aware that there are about a half [01:25] dozen colleges where you can actually work off tuition. [01:29] One of these, Berea in Kentucky, is our most [01:32] affordable private college. Berea gives low income, [01:35] high performing students full tuition scholarships in [01:38] return for their work for the college. So you could easily [01:41] attend Berea for just a few thousand dollars a year. [01:44] We've spent months collecting data to build what we [01:47] think is the list of the best- value colleges in America. [01:49] But you might have different priorities. So take a look [01:52] around our web Website, and find the best value [01:55] college for you. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4166790/steven-pinker-broad-education/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4166790/steven-pinker-broad-education/"},"headline":"What Quality Education Should Teach You, According to a Harvard Scientist","datePublished":"2016-01-11T05:01:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:24.750Z","description":"Educated people should think causally rather than magically","url":"https://time.com/4166790/steven-pinker-broad-education/","keywords":["Education","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44658c6dd2ec55d7/698877aacd1bbadda36fec61/steven-pinker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44658c6dd2ec55d7/698877aacd1bbadda36fec61/steven-pinker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Steven Pinker during an interview in New York City on May 22, 2015.","caption":"Steven Pinker during an interview in New York City on May 22, 2015.","creditText":"Victor J. 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