Modernization and Declining Political Support for Education: Some Implications for the Developing Countries

Abstract

It is often assumed, in developing nations, that economic growth should facilitate the financing of public education. The purpose of this essay is to show that the experience of the more industrialised nations suggests that political support for education does not expand linearly with economic growth. In fact, it tends to go down. The truth is that in the poorer nations there is more will to support public education, but there also exist less resources, less money to spend and also less educational capability to spend what might be available. In contrast, the wealthier nations certainly have far more resources to spend and far more capability to spend what is available but they lack the same fervour, the same drive which provides political support for public education. Our purpose in this paper is to explain why political support dwindles as modernisation proceeds and the implications of this atrophy of interest for developing nations. As modernisation proceeds, (a) the societal role of education changes, (b) the structure of the education system changes, and (c) the environment in which education takes place also changes. Thus, if we look at these changes we can intuitively understand why political support for public education is not sustained at the same level of intensity in Western Europe, North America or Japan as it is in Latin America, Africa or Asia. In this essay we focus on the changing role of education (1 ) in transmitting the dominant culture and in extending knowledge, (2) in serving as the social mobility 'valve' of society, (3) in providing for the safe 'storage' of children and adults, (4) in preparing individuals for the labour market, and (5) in providing a political role for educators. From these we move to structural issues including (6) the 'industrialisation' of the education system, (7) the rationalisation and use of formulas for the allocation of resources to education, and (8) on increasing governance conflicts within education. Lastly, we discuss (9) the rise of competing demands from other social sectors, and (10) the political unpreparedness of educators.