Dennis Hackethal

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Caplan writes about children: “Every day, like it or not, you have to do 1-2 hours of math. No matter how boring you find the subject, you’re too young to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career that requires math.” This isn’t just offensive to children, but even to *mathematicians:* to Caplan, math is not a wondrous area of exploration and creativity, but necessary toil – just like picking crops back in the 19th century. He says himself that he has “never really liked” the “piles” – piles! – of math he has done. Clearly, this has been a torturous experience for him, so why should the next generation be spared?spared this coercion? Worse, he implies that some amount of force is warranted to impose his edict on children since he won’t let them disagree. So… how much force? Does he advocate yelling at one’s child? Maybe taking away privileges and toys? Withholding love and affection? Or would he go even further? He does not specify: bad ideas hide in the unstated, as philosopher Ayn Rand explains.[^1]
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An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. After all, the reasoning behind abolition was *not* that free men are more productive than slaves (although usually they are). Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Like abolition + picking crops, Caplan’s rotten concept “Unschooling + Math”, which he dresses up with the term “keyhole solution”, is a textbook example of mixed premises, and so his vices destroy his virtues. He derides the principled, uncompromising approachstance toward freedom as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?*
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This post is a satirical rebuttal of Bryan Caplan’s article [‘Unschooling + Math’](https://www.econlib.org/unschooling-math/). I want to showcase how his article reads to me. Read his first, then mine. Imagine that the following was written by someone from the early 1860s who was on the fence about freeingalmost, but not quite, advocates freedom for slaves, chiming in on the debate around abolition.
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I hope my article shows that Caplan is a tyrant who has no idea what freedom means. He presents himself as someone who cares about freedom, as this reasonable guy who wants to strike a balanced approach, butbalance between the approach of “staunch” advocates of freedom and that of its critics. As a result, his primary concern isn’t freedom at all. Instead, he wants to *grant* freedom on *his* terms: as his child, do math for 2 hours and he will grant you freedom for the rest of the day. He wants to prescribe predefined goals and assuage *parents’ guilt* for using coercion. His concern for their guilt (presumably especially his own) rather than *children’s freedom* betrays him. Whenever someone from the 1860s showed concern for the guilt some slaveholders may have felt for whipping their slaves, rather than showing concern *for the slaves who were being whipped,* one immediately knew whose side that person was on, no matter how much he pretended to care about freedom. Same goes for anyone’s accidental confession in not immediately recognizing the pretense: you could tell they were on the perpetrator’s side.
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Caplan writes:writes about children: “Every day, like it or not, you have to do 1-2 hours of math. No matter how boring you find the subject, you’re too young to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career that requires math.” This isn’t just offensive to children, but even to *mathematicians:* to Caplan, math is not a wondrous area of exploration and creativity, but necessary toil – just like picking crops back in the 19th century. Far worse,He says himself that he has “never really liked” the “piles” – piles! – of math he has done. Clearly, this has been a torturous experience for him, so why should the next generation be spared? Worse, he implies that some amount of force is warranted to enforceimpose his edict on children since he won’t let childrenthem disagree. So… how much force? Does he advocate yelling at one’s child? Maybe taking away privileges and toys? Withholding love and affection? Or would he go even further? He does not specify: bad ideas hide in the unstated, as Ayn Rand explains.[^1]
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Staunch advocates of freedom will reply: So what? Who needs crop-picking skills? In all honesty: anyone who wants to pursue a vast range of occupations. Owning a plantation requires knowledge of how to pick crops. Overseeing crop pickers requires that knowledge.knowledge, too. So does being a crop-harvesting engineer or a field inspector.
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In some ways, black people were better off in the 60s than children are today: Harris strongly implies that what Cooper requests is illegal, but there is no law against forced education of children to this day. On the contrary, in many jurisdictions, the law *demands* such force. [Even the UN demands it.](/posts/the-right-to-education-is-bad) And at leastIn addition, I understand that psychological and scientific ‘findings’ justifying segregation were receding by the 60s, yet Caplan references both psychology and medical science to justify – and shift responsibility for – his stance on children. Also, Cooper doesn’t pretend that his ‘request’ is for the black employee’s own good.↵
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Overridinggood, whereas Caplan does just that when it comes to children.↵
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Overriding a child’s preferences for his benefit is a contradiction in terms. If learning math is such a good idea, persuade your child. If you fail, then not learning math is his prerogative, just like it is yours not to pick crops, even though people in the 1860s considered it an extremely useful skill. Free people will naturally learn whatever math their own unique problem situation requires, when it requires it, from the basics up to more advanced skills. The scope and timing is going to be different for everyone. But the reason most people don’t do that today is that teachers ruin their relationship with math: a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a teacher leaves children no other way to assert their freedom than to reject math, then that is what they will do, and the teacher has no right to be surprised or to complain.

Caplan writes: “Every day, like it or not, you have to do 1-2 hours of math. No matter how boring you find the subject, you’re too young to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career that requires math.” This isn’t just offensive to children, but even to *mathematicians:* to Caplan, math is not a wondrous area of exploration and creativity, but necessary toil – just like picking crops back in the 19th century. Far worse, he implies that some amount of force is warranted to enforce his edict since he won’t let children disagree. So… how much force? Does he advocate yelling at one’s child? Maybe taking away privileges and toys? Withholding love and affection? Or would he go even further? He does not specify: bad ideas hide in the unstated, as Ayn Rand explains.[^1]
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An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Like abolition + picking crops, Caplan’s rotten “Unschooling + Math”, which he hides behinddresses up with thepretty term “keyhole solution”, is a textbook example of mixed premises, and so his vices destroy his virtues. He derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?*
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At first, freedom sounds like social-desirability bias run amok: ‘Oh sure, every slave *loves* to learn, it’s just society that failsslaveholders who fail them!’ And I hate social-desirability bias, so I’m tempted to reject freedom.
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Almost every slaveholder is horrified by the idea of freedom. Dr. Samuel A. Cartwright [says](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania) that slaves only flee captivity because they are mentally ill. Even most slaves reject the idea of freedom. Advocates insist, however, that freedom works. Psychologistsit works, and psychologists eloquently defend the merits of freedom.its merits. According to advocates of freedom, slaves area slave is naturally curious. Given freedom, theyOnce freed, a former slave won’t just learn basic skills; they’llskills, they argue – he’ll ultimately find a calling.
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In moral matters, one has to aim for nothing less than absolute purity. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the factmoral truth that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.
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An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Like abolition + picking crops, Caplan’s rotten “Unschooling + Math”, which he hides behind the pretty term “keyhole solution”, is a textbook example of mixed premises, and so his vices destroy his virtues. He derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?* In*right?*↵
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In moral matters, one has to aim for nothing less than absolute purity. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.
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An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Like abolition + picking crops, Caplan’s rotten “Unschooling + Math”, hiddenwhich he hides behind the pretty term “keyhole solution”, is a textbook example of mixed premises, and so his vices destroy his virtues. He derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?* In moral matters, one has to aim for nothing less than absolute purity. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.
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Caplan writes: “Every day, like it or not, you have to do 1-2 hours of math. No matter how boring you find the subject, you’re too young to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career that requires math.” This isn’t just offensive to children, but even to *mathematicians*:*mathematicians:* to Caplan, math is not a wondrous area of exploration and creativity, but necessary toil – just like picking crops back in the 19th century. Far worse, he implies that some amount of force is warranted to enforce his edict since he won’t let children disagree. So… how much force? Does he advocate yelling at one’s child? Maybe taking away privileges and toys? Or would he go even further? He does not specify: bad ideas hide in the unstated, as Ayn Rand explains.[^1]
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I hope my article shows that Caplan is a tyrant who has no idea what freedom means. He presents himself as someone who cares about freedom, as this reasonable guy who wants a balanced approach, but his primary concern isn’t freedom at all. Instead, he wants to *grant* freedom on *his* terms: do math for 2 hours and he will grant you freedom for the rest of the day. He wants to prescribe predefined goals and assuage *parents’ guilt* for using coercion. His concern for their guilt (presumably especially his own) rather than *children’s freedom* betrays him. Whenever someone from the 1860s showed concern for the guilt some slaveholders may have felt for whipping their slaves, one immediately knew whose side that person was on, no matter how much he pretended to care about freedom. Same goes for anyone’s accidental confession in not immediately recognizing the pretense: you could tell they were on the perpetrator’s side.
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An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Like abolition + picking crops, Caplan’s “Unschooling + Math”Math”, hidden behind the term “keyhole solution”, is a textbook example of mixed premises, and so his vices destroy his virtues. He derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?* In moral matters, one has to aim for nothing less butthan absolute purity. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.
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An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Caplan holdsLike abolition + picking crops, Caplan’s “Unschooling + Math” is a textbook example of mixed premises, and so his vices destroy his virtues. He derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?* In moral matters, one has to aim for nothing less but absolute purity. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.

If society progresses in the way I hope,then Caplan’s article will age exceptionally poorly. As it deserves.

[^1]: Rand writes: “When opposite basic principles are clearly and openly defined, it works to the advantage of the rational side; when they are *not* clearly defined, but are hidden or evaded, it works to the advantage of the irrational side.” In: *Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal* (p. 159). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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Caplan writes: “Every day, like it or not, you have to do 1-2 hours of math. No matter how boring you find the subject, you’re too young to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career that requires math.” This isn’t just offensive to children, but even to *mathematicians*: to Caplan, math is not a wondrous area of exploration and creativity, but necessary toil – just like picking crops back in the 19th century. Far worse, he implies that some amount of force is warranted to enforce his edict since he won’t let children disagree. So… how much force? Does he advocate yelling at one’s child? Maybe taking away privileges and toys? Or would he go even further? He does not specify: bad ideas hide in the unstated, as Ayn Rand explains.↵
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Freedomexplains.[^1]↵
↵
Freedom is indivisible and absolute. It allows no compromises whatsoever. You cannot balance freedom: it’s all or nothing. There are better and worse forms of slavery, but only one type of freedom. Caplan is a good example of the Randian insight that [even the smallest compromise on basic principles or moral matters is a complete surrender](http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/compromise.html). Ansurrender](http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/compromise.html):↵
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> % source: Ayn Rand. *Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal* (p. 161). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.”↵
> If an individual holds mixed premises, his vices undercut, hamper, defeat, and ultimately destroy his virtues. What is the moral status of an honest man who steals once in a while?↵
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An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man, as Ayn Rand implied.man. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all.Note that Caplan holds mixed premises, and so his vices destroy his virtues. He derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?* In moral matters, one has to aim for nothing less but absolute purity. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.

If society progresses in the way I hope, then Caplan’s article will age exceptionally poorly. As it deserves.deserves.↵
↵
[^1]: Rand writes: “When opposite basic principles are clearly and openly defined, it works to the advantage of the rational side; when they are *not* clearly defined, but are hidden or evaded, it works to the advantage of the irrational side.” In: *Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal* (p. 159). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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Overriding a child’s preferences for his benefit is a contradiction in terms. If learning math is such a good idea, persuade your child. If you fail, then not learning math is his prerogative, just like it is yours not to pick crops, even though people in the 1860s considered it an extremely useful skill. Free people will naturally learn whatever math their own unique problem situation requires, when it requires it, from the basics up to more advanced skills. The scope and timing is going to be different for everyone. But the reason most people don’t do that today is that teachers ruin their relationship with math: a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a teacher leaves children no other way to assert their freedom than to reject math, then that is what they will do, and the teacher has no right to be surprised or to complain.
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Freedom is indivisible and absolute. It allows no compromises whatsoever. You cannot balance freedom: it’s all or nothing. There are better and worse forms of slavery, but only one type of freedom. Caplan is a good example of the Randian insight that [even the smallest compromise on basic principles or moral matters is a complete surrender](http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/compromise.html). An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man, as Ayn Rand implied. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Note that Caplan derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. What is a “staunch” opponent of slavery but *right?* Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.

If society progresses in the way I hope, then Caplan’s article will age exceptionally poorly. As it deserves.

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At first, freedom sounds like Social Desirability Biassocial-desirability bias run amok: ‘Oh yes,sure, every slave *loves* to learn, it’s just society that fails them!’ And I hate Social Desirability Bias,social-desirability bias, so I’m tempted to reject freedom.
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In some ways, black people were better off in the 60s than children are today: Harris strongly implies that what Cooper requests is illegal, but there is no law against forced education of children to this day. On the contrary, in many jurisdictions, the law *demands* such force. [Even the UN demands it.](/posts/the-right-to-education-is-bad) Andwhat Cooper does is still better, in way, than what Caplan does: at least Cooper doesn’t pretend that his ‘request’ is for the black employee’s own good.
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Caplan writes: “Every day, like it or not, you have to do 1-2 hours of math. No matter how boring you find the subject, you’re too young to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career that requires math.” HeThis isn’t just offensive to children, but even to *mathematicians*: to Caplan, math is not a wondrous area of exploration and creativity, but necessary toil – just like picking crops back in the 19th century. Far worse, he implies that some amount of force is warranted to enforce his edict since he won’t let children disagree. So… how much force? Does he advocate yelling at one’s child? Maybe taking away privileges and toys? Or would he go even further? He does not specify: bad ideas hide in the unstated.↵
↵
Freedomunstated, as Ayn Rand explains.↵
↵
Freedom is indivisible and absolute. It allowsabsolutely no compromises.compromises whatsoever. You cannot balance freedom: it’s all or nothing. There are better and worse forms of slavery, but only one type of freedom. Caplan is a good example of the Randian insight that [even the smallest compromise on basic principles or moral matters is a complete surrender](http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/compromise.html). An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man, as Ayn Rand implied. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Note that Caplan derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.

If society progresses in the way I hope, then Caplan’s article will age exceptionally poorly. As it deserves.

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Second, picking crops is highly cumulative. You need to master the basics before you move on to more advanced crop-picking techniques. You need to choose the right crop, prepare the soil for it, plant the seeds, monitor the growth, use proper irrigation and fertilizer, and so on. And you need to build the requisite strength in your youth. If you are free first and *then* decide you want to pick crops,crops when you are older and weaker, good luck.
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The meaning of Abolition + Picking Crops is simple: impose a single mandate on free men. Whether you like it or not, you have to pick crops for 1-2 hours every single day. No matter how boring you find it, you’re too bad at picking crops to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career in crop picking. If you don’t pick crops now, you won’t be able to later.
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What I hate even more, though, is refusing to calm down and look at the facts. Fact: I’ve met and talked to dozens of adults who were born not as slaves but as free men. Overall, they appear at least as productive as typical slaves. Indeed, as psychologists predict, free men are especially likely to turn their passions into useful work. Admittedly, some of them are flaky, butflaky – then againagain, so are a lot of free people. Upon closer inspection, there’s only one glaring issue with free people.↵
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*Theythem.↵
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*They suck at picking crops!* In my experience, even free men with strong bodies tend to be weak on the field. On the field, I say! Work anyone should be able to do. And most of them have no knowledge of more advanced crop-picking techniques.
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Caplan writes: “Every day, like it or not, you have to do 1-2 hours of math. math. No matter how boring you find the subject, you’re too young to decide that you don’t want to pursue a career that requires math.” He implies that some amount of force is warranted to enforce his edict since he won’t let children disagree. So… how much force? Does he advocate yelling at one’s child? Maybe taking away privileges and toys? Or would he go even further? He does not specify: bad ideas hide in the unstated.
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Almost every slaveholder is horrified by the idea of freedom. DrDr.  Samuel A. Cartwright [says](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania) slaves only flee captivity because they are mentally ill. Even most slaves reject the idea of freedom. Advocates insist, however, that freedom works. Psychologists eloquently defend the merits of freedom. According to advocates of freedom, slaves are naturally curious. Given freedom, they won’t just learn basic skills; they’ll ultimately find a calling.
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One popular alternative to slavery is called ‘freedom’. As with all practices, this one varies. But essentially, freedom means the slave does what he wants. He works on whatever he wants, for as long as he wants. If he asks you to teach him something, you teach him. Yet if he decides to go on long walks all day, the principled response based on freedom is: “Let him.”↵
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Almost‘Let him.’↵
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Almost every slaveholder is horrified by the idea of freedom. Dr  Samuel A. Cartwright [says](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania) slaves only flee captivity because they are mentally ill. Even most slaves reject the idea of freedom. Advocates insist, however, that freedom works. Psychologists eloquently defend the merits of freedom. According to advocates of freedom, slaves are naturally curious. Given freedom, they won’t just learn basic skills; they’ll ultimately find a calling.

At first, freedom sounds like Social Desirability Bias run amok: “Oh‘Oh yes, every slave *loves* to learn, it’s just society that fails them!”them!’ And I hate Social Desirability Bias, so I’m tempted to reject freedom.
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We should have a strong presumption against slavery – even the literal slavery between a slaveholder and his slave. “Maybe‘Maybe the slave is right and the slaveholder is wrong”wrong’ is such an underrated thought. But picking crops is more important. I *don’t* want the government to force slaveholders to teach their slaves how to pick crops. Instead, slaveholders should require their slaves to learn how to pick crops. Guilt-free.
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This post is a satirical rebuttal of Bryan Caplan’s article [‘Unschooling + Math’](https://www.econlib.org/unschooling-math/). I want to showcase how his article reads to me. Read his first, then mine. Imagine that the following was written by someone from the early 1860s who was on the fence about freeing slaves.↵
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---↵
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Oneslaves, chiming in on the debate around abolition.↵
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One popular alternative to slavery is called ‘freedom’. As with all practices, this one varies. But essentially, freedom means the slave does what he wants. He works on whatever he wants, for as long as he wants. If he asks you to teach him something, you teach him. Yet if he decides to go on long walks all day, the principled response based on freedom is: “Let him.”
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Freedom is indivisible and absolute. It allows absolutely no compromises. You cannot balance freedom: it’s all or nothing. There are better and worse forms of slavery, but only one type of freedom. Caplan is a good example of the Randian insight that [even the smallest compromise on basic principles or moral matters is a complete surrender](http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/compromise.html).  An honest man who steals once in a while is not an honest man, as Ayn Rand implied. A free man who has to pick crops 1-2 hours a day is not a free man. A free child who has to learn math 1-2 hours a day is not a free child. The whole point of unschooling is (or should be!) freedom, not productivity, career choice, or “merits”, or that freedom “works” or whatever. Mix freedom and forced math lessons and you end up with no freedom at all. Note that Caplan derides the principled, uncompromising approach as “staunch”. Those of us who have fully understood and integrated the fact that the universality of freedom applies to children just as much as it does to adults, recognize Caplan’s error with lightning speed – and judge accordingly.

If society progresses in the way I hope, then Caplan’s article will age exceptionally poorly. As it deserves.

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> #### Well, I’m all for the advancement of colored people, but I do not believe they should advance all the way to the front of this office.
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