Restoring Equal Educational Opportunity

Treść źródłowa

Source: https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2011/09/education-reform-in-japan_g17a200a/5kg58z7g95np-en.pdf(Earlier this year, I ran several posts critiquing Sanae Takaichi’s industrial policy, saying that it avoided the critical issues indispensable to Japanese revival. It began with this one, followed by this, this, and this. One of the critical issues—and the one I’ll begin addressing today—is human capital, the foundation of all innovation and productivity growth. Whether it’s training managers of small and medium enterprises how to use digital technology, or inducing companies to hire more PhDs and to give all their workers enough training, or restoring equal opportunity in higher education, revival is impossible without ameliorating these problems. In this new series, I’ll try to pose some solutions where I feel I have enough expertise.By the way, this blog has a search icon on the upper right of the home page where you can look up related items using terms like innovation, digital, human capital, PhDs, etc.)One of the most admirable and effective features of Japan’s postwar social contract was ensuring equal educational opportunity for all its citizens. As a result, Japan enjoyed one of the world’s best records in social mobility: the ability of its most talented individuals (at least among males) to rise to the top in government, business, and academia. Even those with more smarts than money could ascend by dint of their own talent and drive; they were hardly limited by the socioeconomic status of their parents. A key ingredient in the recip…