Nice overview of early history of education in Haiti. An hour in political activity is an hour not at work, a 12 percent drop in daily earnings, a lowering of consumption, and an extreme expenditure of calories and water to find a voting station. In a country where political class behaviors are constant no matter who controls the administration apparatus, and where voting does not alter the compositionof the foreign-assistance shadow government, political actions such as voting are final consumption luxuries that most cannot afford unless remunerated for the opportunity cost involved. Certainly the most extraordinary finding of Fass' study concerns education. But, this poses a grave question.
Schools cost money.
The students must have uniforms, pay some tuition, purchase books and supplies, and be taken out of the work force while they are in school. In line with Fass' guiding hypothesis, there must be an economic explanation behind why the families of his study would make such a grave economic sacrifice to send children to school. He rejects the argument that schools pay off in future earnings for the poor. Perhaps this is so for the elite, but the quality of education which is offered to the poor is such that no serious economic gains can be gotten through education. Fass believes he may have found an explanation by noting a startling co-relation between having gone to school and having migrated from the country.