It is the pursuit of knowledge rather than the pursuit of wealth that has produced the most significant gain in our standard of living

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I love this statement made by Charles Adams on Progressive Pulse today:

[I]t is the pursuit of knowledge rather than the pursuit of wealth that has produced the most significant gain in our standard of living.

The claim, which I think to be self-evidently true, is made in a piece by Charles (who is a professor of physics at Durham University) on the folly of the government's new approach to appraising the value of a university education as if a student is a consumer. As Charles puts it:

The problem for politicians is that you cannot buy knowledge, you have to create it, by yourself, sometimes with help from others, but always by hard graft. Students are not consumers, they are workers, working on acquiring the knowledge and skills that help to make the world a better place. More enlightened countries like Denmark pay their students to refine their skills. We used to do that too.

But we no longer live in enlightened times.

Which explains a great deal about the UK today.

I recommend reading Charles' piece.


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