Education As The Answer?

Paul Krugman makes the following case this morning:

If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word
would be “education.” In the 19th century, America led the way in universal
basic education. Then, as other nations followed suit, the “high school
revolution” of the early 20th century took us to a whole new level. And in the
years after World War II, America established a commanding position in higher
education.

I think I disagree with this. Our economic success, it seems to me, occurred for primarily other reasons: a huge new continent with vast, untapped natural resources, a capitalist economic system which liberated the energies of entrepreneurs to use those resources to build great productive enterprises, and a dominant position in the world's economy after World War II.

It seems to me that our each decade since the 19th century has brought a 'dumbing down' of our people, despite more years of formal education. The average high school graduate knew more about history and literature in the early 20th century than the average college student does today. Likewise, an Abraham Lincoln, who was largely self-educated, knew more than the average student of any high school or college in the 20th century. Now, most of that is not the fault of our educational system really. It's the result of other factors, like the rise of television and the increased prosperity (which gives you other things to do with your time than read).

In other words, more years of formal education is the fruit of prosperity, not the cause of it. The rich dessert we enjoy, not the meat and potatoes.

I have believed for a while now that simply putting more kids through college is not the answer to our economic and cultural problems in 21st century America. I'm not opposed to it, necessarily, but it's not going to make us Number One again as the economic giant of the world. And we may simply not be able to afford it any longer.