Improving the level of national education is an important way to promote the national economy and achieve economic catch-up. According to the data, since the late19th century, there have been three successful cases of economic catch-up between the United States and Britain, Japan and the United States, and South Korea and Western Europe in the history of world economic development, and the improvement of national education level is an important reason.
187 1 to 19 13 is an important period for the American economy to rapidly surpass Britain. At the same time, this period is also a period when American human capital overtook Britain. In 1820, the average length of schooling in the United States was equivalent to 87.5% in the United Kingdom, which increased to 88.3% in 1870 and further increased to 910/3 years.
1953 Japan began its economic take-off. The per capita GDP of Japan 1992 is equivalent to 90. 1% of the per capita GDP of the United States, creating a world record that the per capita GDP has increased 28 times from 1820 to 1992, so Japan is considered as the most successful country in the world. At the same time, Japan successfully caught up with the accumulation of human capital. 19 13 years, Japan's per capita years of education was equivalent to 68.2% of that of the United States, and it reached 80.8% of that of the United States in 1950, and has remained at this level ever since, 82.9% in 1973 and 82% in 1992.
From 1965 to 1992, the average annual GDP growth rate of Korea is 8.8%. 1973 Korea's per capita GDP was equivalent to 24.3% of that of western European countries, and 1992 rose to 57.5%. At the same time, South Korea achieved universal primary education in 1960. After the economic take-off in 1970, we began to vigorously develop higher education, increasing by 20 percentage points every 10: from 1975 to 1985, and the enrollment rate of higher education increased from 10% to. From 1985 to 1995, the enrollment rate of higher education increased from 30% to 50%. It took about 15 years for the enrollment rate of secondary education to increase from about 60% to 90%.
The above three successful economic catch-up cases show that every successful economic catch-up is accompanied by the first catch-up of human capital, and human capital is the forerunner of economic catch-up.
In addition to increasing investment in education, cultivating high-quality workers and fully developing human resources, increasing investment in science and technology and cultivating scientific and technological talents are also important reasons why the United States, Japan and South Korea have successfully achieved economic catch-up.
In the United States, 1863 established the National Academy of Sciences, and 19 established industrial science research institutes and agricultural experimental stations in various States in the 1970s and 1980s. The federal government allocated 15000 yuan as a fund for each agricultural experimental station. By the end of 19, there were 56 such experimental stations. The government also subsidized the establishment of science and engineering universities and agricultural colleges in the form of land grant. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were 53 such "land-grant colleges". Before the civil war, there were no fewer than 400 agricultural magazines published in the United States, of which the circulation ranged from 250 thousand to 350 thousand, as many as 50 or 60 kinds. At that time, about 65,438+0/65,438+00 farmers subscribed to agricultural magazines. The leading position of technology has gradually shifted from Britain and Europe to the United States. For example, although the internal combustion engine was invented in Europe, the fastest and most widely used is the United States; Most of the power technology was invented in Europe, and the first power plant was built in the United States. Iron and steel technology was invented by Britain and France, and was first used on a large scale in the United States. From 1860, the United States has far surpassed Britain in the number of patent registrations. From 1865 to 1869, there are 2,299 pieces in the UK and 0/0895 pieces in the US; From 1875 to 1879, there are 3,379 pieces in Britain and 3,689 pieces in the United States; From 1885 to 1889, UK 937 1 piece, USA 2 1666 pieces; From 1895 to 1899, UK 134 19, USA 2 1680; From 1905 to 1909, UK 15423, USA 33220; 19 13 Britain is 16599, while the United States has reached 339 17. 1At the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the United States was called the "era of invention", and many world-class inventors and industrialists such as Thomas Edison and alexander bell emerged. Scientific innovation and technological inventions have advanced by leaps and bounds, and they have been rapidly transformed into emerging industries and powerful productive forces.
In the early days after World War II, Japan lagged far behind Europe and America in science and technology, but after nearly 40 years of catching up, it entered the ranks of powerful countries in science and technology. According to the analysis of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), from 1960 to 1973, 78% of the gap in economic growth rate between Japan and the United States stems from the gap in the contribution of technological progress to economic growth; From 1980 to 1986, 100% of the economic growth gap between Japan and the United States also comes from the contribution of technological progress to economic growth. 1970, Japan's scientific research expenditure was about 2/3 of that of the United States 1/8, 1980 1/3, 1990. 1970, the number of Japanese scientific and technological personnel was 1 72,000, and 1990 increased to 484,300, increasing by more than110,000 almost every year, surpassing other developed countries except the United States. The proportion of Japanese researchers among ten thousand people is 45.3, ranking first in the world.
/kloc-in the 1980s, South Korea changed its development strategy from "building a country through export" to "building a country through science and technology", with the overall goal of strengthening R&D and cultivating and improving its innovation ability. Develop some cutting-edge technologies; Building emerging industries; The combination of basic research, applied research and development research. In 1976, South Korea's R&D/GNP was only 0.96%, 1986 jumped to 1.82%, and 1990 rose to 2.6%, reaching the level of Western Europe. From 1963 to 1987, the investment in science and technology increased from 9.5 million dollars to 2.35 billion dollars, an increase of more than 240 times.
The above facts clearly tell us that improving Shanghai's education and scientific and technological development level is the only way for Shanghai to catch up with and surpass the world cities.