For decades, the U.S. invested ever-growing fortunes into its antiquated K-12 education system in exchange for steadily worse outcomes. At the same time, Americans spent more than they could afford on higher education, driven by the kind of cheap credit that fueled the housing crisis. The graduates of these systems were left unprepared for a global economy, unable to find jobs, and on the hook for student loans they could never repay. Economist Herb Stein famously said that something that can’t go on forever, won’t. In the case of American education, it couldn’t—and it didn’t.

In The Education Apocalypse, Glenn Harlan Reynolds explains how American education as we knew it collapsed – and how we can all benefit from unprecedented power and freedom in the aftermath. From the advent of online education to the rebirth of forgotten alternatives like apprenticeships, Reynolds shows students, parents, and educators how—beyond merely surviving the fallout—they can rethink and rebuild American education from the ground up.