Does more education lead to greater democracy? Or are more democratic countries better at educating their citizens? A recent NBER paper compared a group of Kenyan girls in 69 primary schools whose students were randomly selected to receive a scholarship with similar students in schools which received no such financial aid. Previous studies had shown that the scholarship programme led to higher test scores and increased the likelihood that girls enrolled in secondary school.
Overall, it significantly increased the amount of education obtained. For the new study the authors tried to see how the extra schooling had affected the political and social attitudes of the women in question. Findings suggested that education may make people more interested in improving their own lives but they may not necessarily see democracy as the way to do it.
Even in established democracies, more education does not always mean either more active political participation or greater faith in democracy. Poorer and less educated people often vote in larger numbers than their more educated compatriots, who often express disdain for the messiness of democracy yearning for the kind of government that would deal strongly with the corrupt and build highways, railway lines and bridges at a dizzying pace of authoritarian China.
The NBER paper selected girl-students as sample through ______ sampling technique.
