All 7 articles in this section
A single subject choice made at fourteen or fifteen closes off a disproportionate share of later options. The data on who makes that choice, and why, is uncomfortable reading.
The educational attainment reversal is one of the great social changes of the last fifty years. It has not translated into earnings parity, and the reasons for that are specific and identifiable.
Advocates cite impressive raw outcomes. Critics cite null results from controlled studies. Both are describing real data, and the disagreement is almost entirely about selection.
The original expectancy research was overstated and partly discredited. What replaced it is smaller, better evidenced, and more actionable.
Extra hours produce diminishing returns quickly, and the students most likely to work them are the ones who need them least. This is a distribution problem, not a work ethic problem.
Classroom attention is a finite resource allocated partly by disruption. Students who never demand any get less of it, and the effect accumulates across a school career.
A surprising share of the access gap is not affordability at all. Field experiments have found that supplying accurate information changes application behaviour at very low cost.