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Yesterday, a story about hazing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison shocked the country. Police found 30 partially undressed young men packed inside a fraternity’s basement, covered in food, condiments, and other liquids. Several had visible injuries consistent with being physically assaulted. The vast majority were 18 years old. Fraternity president Brayden J. Klein and vice president Samuel N. Vane, both 20, were arrested on suspicion of hazing and disorderly conduct. Why did this story shake me? Just a few days ago, I wrote an article on my Substack titled “Education as an Antidote to Violence.” Here is the link: https://t.co/Df2fuTmWdi My main argument was that education reduces violence because it creates economic opportunity, builds self-control, and raises the cost of throwing your future away. Was I wrong? No. The data overwhelmingly support this argument. But this case reveals something equally important: education is an antidote to violence, not immunity from it. You can put intelligent young people into a university environment. You can give them enormous opportunities. You can surround them with knowledge. And they can still do terrible things when the incentives of the group point in the wrong direction. Hazing is a powerful example of this. A young person wants to belong. Someone else wants to demonstrate power. A group develops a ritual and you need to decide whether the benefit is worth the cost. Suddenly, behavior that would seem unthinkable becomes acceptable collectively. This is one of the central lessons of behavioral economics: people do not make decisions in isolation. We respond to incentives. We conform to social norms. We seek status and belonging. And under the wrong circumstances, perfectly ordinary people can participate in behavior they would never consider on their own. Education can strengthen judgment. But institutions, culture, and incentives determine whether that judgment is actually used. That is why education matters so much. But it is also why education alone is never enough.