Some 20 million students will head off to college and university this fall, and we wish all of them well. But are we allowed to ask whether that number is too high?
Economists call it the “fallacy of composition,” which is the assumption that what’s true for members of a group must also be true for the group as a whole. To use a popular example: It’s true that if someone stands up in a football stadium, that person will be able to see better. But it’s not true that if everyone stands up, everyone will have a better view.