ABSTRACT
Education was placed into the pile of consumption goods-things people choose to buy for their own purposes for the moment. Within the narrow confines of neoclassical economic theory, not all of education's value can be captured by labor value. Governments may well emphasize education because it raises the level of national income directly. Human capital theory applies the value of investment of one person to one income. In Asian countries, equality of schooling opportunity appears to support growth in national incomes over many years, so there is some evidence that equality of schooling may actually be efficient. For societies, people who think collectively, understand environmental sustainability, understand public health initiatives, are engaged civically, obey laws, challenge unethical or immoral norms, sacrifice for shared values and contribute to the society beyond their work. Educated societies tend to absorb knowledge of better health care, better environmental practices and better ways of sharing information.
