Changes in the demand for higher education in postwar Japan are analyzed. Three simple conceptual models of the anticipated benefit of education are considered, along with the validity of each model in explaining changes in aggregate demand for college. A classical model assumes that individuals know about the prevailing wage structure and expect…

The aims and motives of schooling are changing, and it is becoming more and more a ritualized process of qualification-earning. The underlying causes of this change are traced through the education histories of Britain, Japan, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. It is illustrated that the competitve scramble for scarce modern jobs has created a "backwash…