<p>“Or… is education simply a Good Thing and wealthy countries do it as much as they can because it is inherently valuable?”</p>
<p>Well, I’d say democratic countries do value education for its own sake, if for no other reason than to have an informed and as a result – one would hope – electorate that is attuned to its intelligence as a basis for voting.</p>
<p>Now, dictatorial/authoritarian regimes like nothing more than to keep their populations uneducated and uninformed, so that even if they did wanted to better their oppressed lives they wouldn’t have the intellectual capital to even make a case for it. It’s no suprise that the intelligentia of such countries get harassed, thrown in jail or ‘disappear’ altogether, being the few who are informed…</p>