"Education, education, education" has become an obsession for politicians and the public alike. It is seen as an economic panacea: an engine for growth and prosperity. But is there a link between increased spending on higher eductaion and economicgrowth? Professor Alison Wolf takes a critical look at successive governments' education policy and challenges many of the tenets of received wisdom: there are no economic reasons for spending more on higher education in order to stimulate growth. The conclusion of this devastating book is that a large proportion of the billions poured into vocational training and university provision might be better spent on teaching the basics at primary school.
Does Education Matter?
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'A withering critique of governmental and business attempts to support vocational education ... in the name of the nation's economic progress' -- TES, 14th June 2002
'I can see Estelle Morris spluttering into her latte' -- TES, 14th June 2002
'One of the bravest, most interesting and most valuable books about economic policy to have appeared of late' -- The Economist, 8th June 2002
'I can see Estelle Morris spluttering into her latte' -- TES, 14th June 2002
'One of the bravest, most interesting and most valuable books about economic policy to have appeared of late' -- The Economist, 8th June 2002
About the Author
Alison Wolf is Chair of Education at the Institute of Education in London and Programme Director at the Centre for the Economics of Education. She lives in Dulwich, London.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In spite of the provocative title of the book, Does Education Matter?, Alison Wolf is no fool. She admits that (1) yes, knowledge, and thus education, is important in itself. She admits that (2) yes, education has an effect on the salary an individual can gain. As a "positional good" it affects how the wealth in society is distributed. This is because employers use higher education also as a proxy of different abilities like intelligence or motivation, and only partly as an indicator of concrete skills. Furthermore, Wolf admits that (3) yes, education at the primary and secondary level has an important effect also on how wealthy, in absolute terms, a given society can be. The important concrete skills employers are looking for are, quite simply (but not at too trivial level), reading, writing and mathematics. She even admits that (4) yes, education at the tertiary level can create wealth, provided it creates high quality research and professionals. But here we are already close to a "no" answer (which you all knew was coming).
In Western Europe, about one third of a cohort get a university degree, and we are on our way to the level of two thirds already reached in the USA. There is preciously little evidence that this expansion creates economic growth; if anything, it is a result of such growth. Symptomatically we have not seen similar expansion in the resources provided for the universities. With funding per student, also the teacher/student ratio has decreased dramatically, implying decreasing quality of the education ("efficiency gains" in education are problematic). Moreover, the overemphasis on tertiary education has made it more difficult to provide high quality primary and secondary education. As Wolf points out, the chosen policy most likely hurts the economy!... Read more ›
In Western Europe, about one third of a cohort get a university degree, and we are on our way to the level of two thirds already reached in the USA. There is preciously little evidence that this expansion creates economic growth; if anything, it is a result of such growth. Symptomatically we have not seen similar expansion in the resources provided for the universities. With funding per student, also the teacher/student ratio has decreased dramatically, implying decreasing quality of the education ("efficiency gains" in education are problematic). Moreover, the overemphasis on tertiary education has made it more difficult to provide high quality primary and secondary education. As Wolf points out, the chosen policy most likely hurts the economy!... Read more ›
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By T. Burkard
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Most educated people assume that a degree is a passport to a well-paid career. Nearly all politicians believe that education is the key to a nation's economic virility. One would assume that Alison Wolf, who is a professor at London's prestigious Institute of Education, would support these ideas: after all, they underpin the rapid growth of the education industry in Britain and elsewhere. However, the facts are not so simple.
Although it is true that basic literacy and numeracy skills correlate highly with stable, well-paid employment (even after controlling for levels of formal educational awards), our universities are turning out far more graudates than the job market can absorb. After two years, one third of all grads in Britain are either unemployed, or doing a job that doesn't require a degree--a fine reward for taking on a huge burden of debt. 'Mickey mouse' degrees from Britain's newer universities are all but useless in employer's eyes. After all, one of the main advantages a degree confers is the ability to network with the 'right' people, and you sure aren't going to meet these at Greenwich University.
Even good degrees in hard subjects are no guarantee of a job. The stats belie official propaganda: we have far more science and engineering grads than we need. The global economy has created a global market in these skills, and China and India have been turning out huge numbers of scientists and engineers for years. One stat that I turned up in the course of my own research is that only 7% of British students awarded a BSc in Physics in 2002 actually found a job in R&D. The only physics grad I know personally never got a job at all--after 3 years of working in call centres and busking, he finally trained as a teacher.... Read more ›
Although it is true that basic literacy and numeracy skills correlate highly with stable, well-paid employment (even after controlling for levels of formal educational awards), our universities are turning out far more graudates than the job market can absorb. After two years, one third of all grads in Britain are either unemployed, or doing a job that doesn't require a degree--a fine reward for taking on a huge burden of debt. 'Mickey mouse' degrees from Britain's newer universities are all but useless in employer's eyes. After all, one of the main advantages a degree confers is the ability to network with the 'right' people, and you sure aren't going to meet these at Greenwich University.
Even good degrees in hard subjects are no guarantee of a job. The stats belie official propaganda: we have far more science and engineering grads than we need. The global economy has created a global market in these skills, and China and India have been turning out huge numbers of scientists and engineers for years. One stat that I turned up in the course of my own research is that only 7% of British students awarded a BSc in Physics in 2002 actually found a job in R&D. The only physics grad I know personally never got a job at all--after 3 years of working in call centres and busking, he finally trained as a teacher.... Read more ›
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
A question that is always likely to generate debate, the purpose of education is at the centre of this book: the best investment for modern societies' economies is generally regarded to be education. This book explores the true relation between education and an effective economy, including plently of figures and well reasoned arguments. Issues of particular interest are the public perceptions of vocational education, and the stigma often attached to this, and the influence of business and industry upon what our children are tuaght. Not too dificult to read, and extremely useful fo anyone studying economics, education, or politics.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In the same way that we are sometimes surprised, these days, when someone actually thanks us for holding a door open, Alison Wolf's book is a continuous surprise for being so unexpected. She writes from inside an educational establishment that usually closes ranks when outsiders question whether the whole edifice is really being operated in the right way. This book is little short of revolutionary. It is one of a very few such treatises that turn the traditional arguments on their heads. She sees the Emperor has lost his clothes while most Government Ministers and civil servants are still pretending to themselves that spending even more public money on fancy educational initiatives will somehow "educate" us and that more and more educated Britons (read Britons with silly qualifications) will automatically mean economic success. Anyone who wants to see the whole picture on the question of education should read this book - but then they should also start to wonder what it means for other areas of received Government "wisdom".
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