OPINION: Anybody with even passing interest in university scholarship kind of already knows the social sciences are basically made up. In some cases, literally, as in they invented datasets in their studies and then published them as if they were real. The “Grievance Studies Affair” is a perfect (and deliciously subversive) recent example of just how fugazi the social sciences are. In it, Peter Boghossian, James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose set out to prove the social sciences “lacked rigor” — or more directly, were totally made up — by inventing what they believed to be clearly absurd social science research and attempting to get it published. They did end up getting 7 papers accepted in academic journals, the most infamous of which cast “urban dog parks” as “rape-condoning spaces” and petri dishes for “canine rape culture.” A new study that actually does have rigor essentially proved the thesis of 2019’s Grievance Studies experiment. Published in Nature April 1, the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) project trying to replicate 164 studies found that a stunning 49% of the studies they reviewed could not be replicated. And they even broke it down by field. Econ/Polisci scored the highest at around 60%, then sociology cratered at around 25%. The most shocking of all: Social sciences research in the education field notched a big fat zero. Yes, zero percent of the scholarship SCORE sampled on education was replicable. This makes total sense if you’ve ever read DOCTOR Jill Biden’s dissertation, which I have, and I will never get that approximately 40 minutes of my life back. Between the summers of 2021-2022, American taxpayers spent about $39 billion on graduate-level student loans. Some of that doubtless went to EdDs like DOCTOR Jill. You think her doctorate would make her more capable? Probably not. In a more sane world, those billions would go to ICE or a wall or even just everyone gets one free hot dog at the ball game. Anything but fake credentials and fake studies. Read more from @GPIngersoll below ⬇️