Is An Examined Education Better? - Nick Cowen

Is An Examined Education Better? - Nick Cowen

From The Curious Task by Institute for Liberal Studies

March 18, 2026 · 1h 3m · Episode 344

About this episode

Alex speaks with Nick Cowen about the benefits of an examined education over an unexamined one.

In this episode, Alex speaks with Nick Cowen about why an “examined education” is better than an unexamined one. Drawing on his paper, Nick argues that exams are valuable not just as external assessments but as opportunities for students to test themselves, build confidence, develop resilience, and discover what they actually know rather than what they merely think they know. References “An Examined Education” — Nick Cowen https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6261178 The Theory of Moral Sentiments — Adam Smith https://a.co/d/0iSQvp4l “Why I Am Not a Conservative” — F. A. Hayek https://press.uchicago.edu/books/excerpt/2011/hayek_constitution.html Graduate premium in the UK and debates over higher education quality https://theskillsagenda.substack.com/p/a-declining-graduate-premium Thanks to Our Patrons Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.To support The Curious Task, visit:https://patreon.com/curioustask

People in this episode

Host: Alex

Guest: Nick Cowen

Topics covered

  • education
  • exams
  • self-assessment
  • confidence
  • resilience
  • higher education

Keywords

  • examined education
  • self-assessment
  • confidence
  • resilience
  • higher education

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: An Examined Education, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Why I Am Not a Conservative

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