Just about everyone agrees that education is a solution to most of our – and everyone else’s – economic problems. Sadly, just about everyone is probably wrong.
There are many debates about the link between education, on the one hand, and poverty and inequality on the other.
But what is clear is that it is simply not true that education on its own solves these problems – at the very least, other remedies are needed.
This is why harping on education can hold us back – by diverting our attention from other problems that need attention.
A frequent problem is that the education argument becomes a handy excuse for those who are doing well and do not want anything to change.
For them, the argument that “education is the answer” really means that “they” should stop complaining about “us”. Instead, “they” should realise that “we” are doing well because we know much more than them – if “they” want to be like “us”, they should learn how.
The handy thing about this argument is that it places all the blame on people at the bottom and requires no change at all from those at the top.
Like the claim that voters need “education” whenever they behave in a way that elites dislike, this is more about making people at the top feel better than about solving problems.
Even where the purpose is not to shift blame on to the poor, focusing on education at the expense of other priorities can worsen problems – an oft-cited example in our region is Zimbabwe, which made substantial gains in education after majority rule, but did not fix the other problems that needed attention if it was to prosper.
Inequality remains our deepest problem – far too deep to be solved by one “fix” alone.
It requires a range of solutions, all of which need to be negotiated among the major economic actors and all of which require all to change the way they do things and to give up some of what they have in the interests of a future that can work for all.
Education may feature in that process – but it is no substitute for it.
Professor Steven Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy
Education is not magical cure-all for national ills
There are many debates about the link between education, on the one hand, and poverty and inequality on the other.
But what is clear is that it is simply not true that education on its own solves these problems – at the very least, other remedies are needed.
This is why harping on education can hold us back – by diverting our attention from other problems that need attention.
A frequent problem is that the education argument becomes a handy excuse for those who are doing well and do not want anything to change.
For them, the argument that “education is the answer” really means that “they” should stop complaining about “us”. Instead, “they” should realise that “we” are doing well because we know much more than them – if “they” want to be like “us”, they should learn how.
The handy thing about this argument is that it places all the blame on people at the bottom and requires no change at all from those at the top.
Like the claim that voters need “education” whenever they behave in a way that elites dislike, this is more about making people at the top feel better than about solving problems.
Even where the purpose is not to shift blame on to the poor, focusing on education at the expense of other priorities can worsen problems – an oft-cited example in our region is Zimbabwe, which made substantial gains in education after majority rule, but did not fix the other problems that needed attention if it was to prosper.
Inequality remains our deepest problem – far too deep to be solved by one “fix” alone.
It requires a range of solutions, all of which need to be negotiated among the major economic actors and all of which require all to change the way they do things and to give up some of what they have in the interests of a future that can work for all.
Education may feature in that process – but it is no substitute for it.
Professor Steven Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy
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