Chapter 1Signaling, the Hunger Games, and McHarvard
From the moment we are born, we are trained to compete for all things—for food, for partners, for a place to live, for our beliefs, and more. As our economy and education system has gone global, competition has only increased, and the returns to success have grown and grown as talented individuals can access much larger markets than ever before.
Certain countries like China and Singapore lean in on competition. From a young age, children in China prepare for the rigorous college entry exam—the Gaokao—which force-ranks a nation of learners and precisely determines which universities and even careers they can access. In Singapore, children are streamed at each stage of learning, creating a ...
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