“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail” — Economists Go After Schools Again | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail” — Economists Go After Schools Again | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail” — Economists Go After Schools Again

by Larry Ferlazzo

Last month, I wrote about a questionable study that touted the idea of “loss aversion” as a successful strategy to get students to do better at tests. In other words, they gave students a trophy or some cash before they took the test and told them they would have to give it back if they didn’t do well. As one of the researchers told an interviewer:
Yeah, it’s hard when you rip a trophy out of the hands of an eight year old.
You can read more about that study at Can’t Economists Stay Away From Schools? Don’t They Have Enough Other Things To Do? and at Part Two Of “Can’t Economists Stay Away From Schools?” — My Worst Fears Realized.
Well, most of those same economists, with the addition of Roland G. Fryer, Jr, are back at it. This time, though,