なぜ"学歴が消えた世界”は、さらに残酷な選別を始めるのか【生態学×進化心理学】

—If, tomorrow, the word "educational background" disappeared from every household in Japan as if it had been deleted from the dictionary, would we arrive at a more just society? In January 1995, 14 wolves were returned to Yellowstone National Park in the United States. For 70 years, during the wolves' absence, coyotes had been continuously attacking tourists. When the apex predator disappears, the mid-level predators below it lose control and run rampant—a phenomenon that ecologist Michael Sule called the "predator liberation hypothesis." On September 2, 1905, the Qing Dynasty abolished the imperial examination system, which had lasted for 1,300 years, overnight. According to 1,608 local records collected by Princeton University economic historian Ying Bai, within just two years of the abolition, the number of modern public schools had swelled to approximately 38%. Tens of millions of families, having lost their status as examination-oriented bureaucrats, shifted their investments to another pinnacle of selection: the new education system. The term "pindie" (comparing parents), coined in China in 2010, has now become commonplace. A survey of 3,809 people by the China Youth Daily found that 80.4% of young people believe it's more realistic to rely on their parents' status than on their own efforts. South Korea ranks sixth globally in the number of cosmetic surgeons per capita, and 70.4% of job seekers have experienced discrimination based on appearance during interviews. In India, even with the same educational and professional experience, applicants with lower-caste surnames must submit 20% more resumes to pass the initial screening. Educational qualifications were not merely a "device for measuring ability." As demonstrated by Michael Spence's Nobel Prize-winning mathematical model in 1973, they were designed as a "signal for making people believe." And at the same time, they were humanity's greatest cage, confining four heavy burdens—comparison, anxiety, standards, and hope—that families should ideally bear separately every day, all under the shadow of a single number. Drawing on data from three different disciplines—ecology, evolutionary psychology, and sociology—I've pondered the way the cages of our social hierarchy are beginning to rust in various parts of the world. ---------------------------- ▼Timestamps 00:00 - Prologue: The Wolves of Yellowstone and the Erased Apex Predator 03:11 - Chapter 1: Humanity's Attempt to Eliminate Educational Credentials ── Imperial Examination, Google, and Standardized Test Scores 08:19 - Chapter 2: What Rampaged When the Predator of Educational Credentials Disappeared ── Pindey, Plastic Surgery, and Name Changes 13:11 - Chapter 3: Four Jobs Taken Over by the Device of Educational Credentials 17:54 - Chapter 4: Educational Credentials, Humanity's Greatest Invention ── Putting the Instinct for Hierarchy in a Cage 20:28 - Epilogue: That Cage is Now Beginning to Creak in Various Parts of the World ---------------------------- ▼References and Data Sources [1] Soulé, M.E., et al. (1988). "Reconstructed Dynamics of Rapid Extinctions of Chaparral-Requiring Birds in Urban Habitat [1] Islands. Conservation Biology, 2(1), 75-92. (Mesopredator release hypothesis - analysis of 37 sections of the San Diego coast, USA) [2] National Park Service. "Wolf Restoration in Yellowstone." (Reintroduction of 14 wolf cubs in 1995-96 - coyote population halved - pronghorn calf survival rate quadrupled) [3] Bai, Y. (2019). "Farewell to Confucianism: The Modernizing Effect of Dismantling China's Imperial Examination System." Journal of Development Economics, 141, 102382. (Analysis of 1,608 local records - significant increase in the number of modern schools established two years after the abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905) [4] Spence, M. (1973). "Job Market Signaling." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3), 355-374. (Original text of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, Educational Signaling Theory) [5] Caplan, B. (2018). "The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money." Princeton University Press. (A provocative claim that up to 80% of income inequality can be explained by signaling) [6] Aryal, G., Bhuller, M., & Lange, F. (2021). "Signaling and Employer Learning with Instruments." arXiv:2103.04123. (Norwegian compulsory education policy: 30% signaling / 70% ability) [7] Ministry of Education (February 1993) "Notice Regarding the Prohibition of Junior High Schools' Involvement in Private Tests, etc." [8] China Youth Daily Social Survey Center (2013) "Survey of 3,809 Young People" (More Reliance on Parents Than Effort) 80.4% / 83.5% have a close relative who is a "pindae" (a term for a male pediatrician). [9] ISAPS (2023). "Global Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Procedures." (2,739 cosmetic surgeons per capita in South Korea, 6th in the world) [10] National Human Rights Commission of Korea (2011). "Survey on the Actual State of A...