My Reflections on the Expansion of Education & the Human Capital Theory
The Expansion of Education
The expansion of education, as shown in the data provided in EdStats, supports that the pursuit of more education is rising. For instance, various readings throughout the course state that the rate of student enrollment is increasing. The reasons for the increasing enrollments for every student are different, but I believe that individuals are making the decision to return to school for the various reasons that we shared in our charts, such as for job change and/or security, personal satisfaction, and for financial fulfillment. I believe that the increase in enrollments can benefit the economy as a whole because of the costs of a higher education. Students have to pay for their education, and if that education cannot be paid for outright, then students have to use financial assistance to fund their education. Many students use student loans, and student loans gain interest. As the student loans gain interest, the government is making money from the students that are paying back that interest.
Further, when students go to school, and learn new skills, those skills are applied in their careers. There are students that go to find work in corporations, which benefit the corporations because they bring in more services and/or money through their productivity; and you have students that make their own employment, they open their own businesses. When they open their own businesses, not only are they benefitting the economy by the productivity of their businesses, but in some cases, they are also creating jobs for others. While there may appear to be “broken promises” in education sometimes, due to un-employment and under-employment, I believe that education is powerful because the skills and the knowledge that are obtained from education gives individuals the option to be creative and make their own employment (Brown, Lauder, & Ashton, 2011).
I believe that education expands our options because of the knowledge and the skills that we obtain from it. The income is produced upon the availability of funds, as we apply the knowledge and the skills that we obtain from our education. The “Elixir and Snake Oil” article highlights that the attainment of education makes it less likely for one to be un-employed, and more likely for the educated individual to have a higher income. I believe that is because of many options that are available to the educated in making an income from their own skills and ideas.
References:
Brown, P., Lauder, H., & Ashton, D. (2011). The global auction: The broken promises of education, jobs, and incomes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wolf, A. (2002). Elixir or snake oil: Can education really deliver growth? In Wolf, A. (Ed.), Does education matter? Myths about education and economic growth, (pp. 13- 55). London: Penguin books.
The Human Capital Theory
I found the article on the human capital theory interesting. When I first read the article, I had the thoughts of a master/slave relationship, but as I read the various responses in the conferences, I began to gain broader thoughts on the subject. This is my understanding; capital is not something that can be produced by people. Capital is the result of the production of marketable assets. While we are not marketable assets, we are producers of marketable assets. Human Resources managers make hiring decisions based on the knowledge and the skills that potential employees demonstrate. Upon being hired by a company, the employees apply the skills, knowledge, and ideas gained from the attainment of education. It is therefore, the skills, knowledge, and the ideas that an individual possess that are the marketable assets, and the marketable assets increase income, which in turn, produces capital because the money that is gained from the productivity of the employees is invested to produce more money. With that, humans produce capital through the wise use of their available resources, and employers invest in humans when they select them to work as their employees.
Reference:
Schultz, T. W. (1961). Investment in Human Capital. American Economic Review, 51, 1-17.
