ABSTRACT
The history of popular education in Britain may be seen as largely a record of missed opportunities and little-and-too-late policies, yet it was only a matter of time before meritocratic motives became well nigh universal. British educational thought has been tardy in reacting to this go-getting mood. Since 1963 British research into the economics of education has made its own mark, although it is still confined to one or two centres and has yet to make much of an impact on, or find its proper niche in, college and university department of education courses. Although it has been left to economists to make explicit the implications of the concept of human capital it is as well to recognize that the concept has long been implicit in upper and middle class ways of thinking. For developing countries, needless to say, the economic aspects take precedence over all others.
