I agree, and want to place a slightly different emphasis. A “better” education system is a two-place function; what’s better for a poor country is different from what’s better for a rich Western one. And education in Western countries looked different back when they were industrializing and still poor by modern standards.
(Not that the West a century ago is necessarily a good template to copy. The point is that the education systems rich countries have today weren’t necessarily a part of what made them rich in the first place.)
A lot (some think most) of Western education is also a credentialing and signalling system. It can also promote social integration (shared culture), and serves as daycare for lower grades.These things don’t directly help a poor country get richer.
Signalling is a zero sum game competing over the top jobs in a poor economy. Sequestering teenagers reduces available workforce for a net economic loss. Community daycare is economically valuable, but requiring qualified teachers is expensive and can make it a net loss.
So poor countries can copy Western education systems faithfully and still not benefit. What they are cargo culting is not (just) the elements of how to do “education”, but the function of the education system in broader society. Faithfully reproducing modern Western education doesn’t necessarily make your country rich: that’s cargo culting.
I agree, and want to place a slightly different emphasis. A “better” education system is a two-place function; what’s better for a poor country is different from what’s better for a rich Western one. And education in Western countries looked different back when they were industrializing and still poor by modern standards.
(Not that the West a century ago is necessarily a good template to copy. The point is that the education systems rich countries have today weren’t necessarily a part of what made them rich in the first place.)
A lot (some think most) of Western education is also a credentialing and signalling system. It can also promote social integration (shared culture), and serves as daycare for lower grades.These things don’t directly help a poor country get richer.
Signalling is a zero sum game competing over the top jobs in a poor economy. Sequestering teenagers reduces available workforce for a net economic loss. Community daycare is economically valuable, but requiring qualified teachers is expensive and can make it a net loss.
So poor countries can copy Western education systems faithfully and still not benefit. What they are cargo culting is not (just) the elements of how to do “education”, but the function of the education system in broader society. Faithfully reproducing modern Western education doesn’t necessarily make your country rich: that’s cargo culting.