The Fear of Education

The “new economy” of the 21 century, as we have come to understand it over the last decade, requires a more literate workforce. Firms and countries without it are advised that they will have increasing trouble competing in a global economy. It is this concern, in part, that has led to the appeals of the last decade to developing countries to take basic education more seriously, by dedicating more attention and resources to the sector. In the research conducted for this paper, however, owners and managers of large modern manufacturing firms in the textile, garment, and footwear sectors of Northeast Brazil reported, to their pleasant surprise, that they have been able to live with illiteracy without compromising their ability to compete. They did not prize an educated workforce and, indeed, sometimes worried out loud that “too much education was a bad thing. ” This “fear” of education also pervades the thinking of politicians and governments, particularly the departments that support economic development–and particularly at the subnational level, where decisions to fund and improve education are often made. These actors often construe their region’s “only” comparative advantage in economic development as one of cheap labor; they worry that a more educated labor force may diminish that advantage by leading to a general increase in the region’s relative wage, and by reducing the prized “docility” and “gratefulness” of the region’s labor force; they also expect to lose the returns to their investment in better education, because of the fabled outmigration of the best workers. The above-noted experiences of firm owners and managers, in turn, seems to translate into a lack of pressure on governments by important local elites for improved education–a kind of fatal absence of demand-driven pressures. These various perceptions, it is important to note, are eminently rational in both private and economic terms. Together, they contribute to a kind of “low-level education trap,” which may help explain the stubborn persistence of low literacy and poor schooling in many poorer regions (or countries) today. The new wisdom about workforce literacy and global competitiveness, then, may be accurate for only some sectors, regions, countries, and periods of time–but not for others. For this reason, the appeals for improved education should perhaps be grounded in rationales other than the 21century “need” for significantly higher workforce literacy. To this end, researchers of political economy and policy reform might explore the historical experiences of other countries–including in other times–to find ways out of the trap. Acknowledgments 1 Introduction.1 The gap: Northeast vs. Brazil.5 2 Workforce education, training, and experience: views from the firm.8 View from the worker.14 What’s wrong with illiteracy? 17 Surprising or unsurprising? 20 Rural fears.20 From rural elites to urban elites.24 Which model? 27 Summing up.33 3 Living with illiteracy by subsidizing training.35 Second best or worse? 37 Corporate social responsibility.42 Summing up.46 4 The U.S. South and the low-level education trap.1 Similarities against differences.2 Lagging and catching up.10 Parents and education reform.14 Conclusion.16 5 Conclusion.18 References.22