The Diploma Disease

Schools used to be for educating people, for developing minds and characters. Today, as jobs depend more and more on certificates, degrees and diplomas, schooling has become more and more a ritualized process of qualification-earning. Professor Dore traces the underlying causes of this change through the educational histories of Britain, Japan, Sri Lanka and Kenya, showing how the late development effect makes what is a worrying problem for the rich countries in the North a disaster for the poorer countries of the South.