I think the implied question is how they started behind the advanced capitalist nations and came to rival or better them. Part of the literacy drive in China, for example was to shift from traditional to simplified characters. I’m actually curious as to whether any other (capitalist) country has done or could do anything similar. And whether this could be achieved without exercising state authority.
The obvious answer is that most of the Western nations did a bad job of educating the non-dominant population(s) mostly due to racism/classism. This varies depending on the nation but is the most obvious answer as to why communist nations tend to have better education rates. This is not to say racism was not a problem or is not a problem in communist states but it rarely if ever is the driver of policy like it is/was in the West.
There’s also fewer incentives for communist nations to not educate people. There’s no financial incentive at play to have uneducated people.
Finally there is the fact that the numbers coming out from the more authoritarian states tend to not be accurate. There are a wide range if incentives to always be promoting “better” numbers so there can be some cases where the numbers are fudged. This is more common with things like production rates and GNP/GDP.
Basically communist nations tend to be aimed at collectivism and don’t benefit from an uneducated class in the same way capitalism can plus they are theoretically less racist in terms of policy.
I think the implied question is how they started behind the advanced capitalist nations and came to rival or better them. Part of the literacy drive in China, for example was to shift from traditional to simplified characters. I’m actually curious as to whether any other (capitalist) country has done or could do anything similar. And whether this could be achieved without exercising state authority.
The obvious answer is that most of the Western nations did a bad job of educating the non-dominant population(s) mostly due to racism/classism. This varies depending on the nation but is the most obvious answer as to why communist nations tend to have better education rates. This is not to say racism was not a problem or is not a problem in communist states but it rarely if ever is the driver of policy like it is/was in the West.
There’s also fewer incentives for communist nations to not educate people. There’s no financial incentive at play to have uneducated people.
Finally there is the fact that the numbers coming out from the more authoritarian states tend to not be accurate. There are a wide range if incentives to always be promoting “better” numbers so there can be some cases where the numbers are fudged. This is more common with things like production rates and GNP/GDP.
Basically communist nations tend to be aimed at collectivism and don’t benefit from an uneducated class in the same way capitalism can plus they are theoretically less racist in terms of policy.