David Warsh's Economic Principals blog has an essay on the history of education, and particularly how the rise of high schools in the early twentieth century and of college education in the second half of the century prepared Americans for technological transformation of the economy. The result was sustained economic growth -- and also reductions in economic inequality. The thesis is that the US is now losing both in educational innovation and in the reduction of inequality.
Hmmm. I often suspect that for all the underfunding arguments the academic marketing people put out, our universities are awash in money and wasting most of it. But EP's essay is thought-provoking (not for the first time).
