Education as Liberation?

2015/11/11 by Willa Friedman, Michael Kremer, Edward Miguel +1 · 98 citations
Chemistry · Social Sciences · #Chemistry #Global Educational Policies and Reforms #Liberation #Political science #Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare #Religious Education and Schools

paper · open access · doi:10.1111/ecca.12168

published in Economica 83(329), 1-30 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2015/11/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

This paper studies the political and social impacts of increased education by utilizing a randomized girls' merit scholarship programme in Kenya that raised test scores and secondary schooling. Consistent with the view that education empowers the disadvantaged to challenge authority, we find that the programme reduced the acceptance of domestic violence and political authority. Young women in programme schools also increased their objective political knowledge. We find that this rejection of the status quo did not translate into greater perceived political efficacy, community participation or voting intentions. Instead, there is suggestive evidence that the perceived legitimacy of political violence increased.

Citations

• Specification Tests in Econometrics

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