Another tenured academic who benefits from the state yapping about how mass education and the state sucks. "I made it, so screw everyone else". Charming.
> Egypt is a classic example of this. Between 1970 and 1998, its primary
> school enrollment rates grew to over 90%, secondary schooling soared
> from 32% to 75%, and university education doubled. Egypt started the
> period as the world's 47th poorest country; it ended the period as the
> 48th poorest.
But all the absolute indicators for Egypt are up: healthcare is better, life expectancy is up, infant mortality down. Education and literacy are more than just good things, they ought to be a human right.
> Switzerland has been one of the
> richest countries in the world for a century - and not because of its
> natural resources. Yet it has the lowest rate of university attendance
> in Western Europe.
That's because Central Europe has efficient workplace training and vocational programs, plus strong unions.
> If you look for a relationship between children's performance on
> international surveys of achievement, and their countries' growth rates
> twenty years on, you will look in vain.
But all the rich industrial countries have high levels of education. There are no exceptions. If you want a high-tech economy, you have to invest in brain cells.
> As university attendance becomes more common, fewer capable young people
> enter vocational training. Yet our economies still need highly trained
> craftspeople far more than another batch of arts graduates.
A professor of management decides the arts are useless? Incredible. Does this person realize the media, ad spend and entertainment industries make up at least 15% of OECD GDP? With professors like this, no wonder British capitalism is so decrepit.
-- DRR