In recent decades, schooling has rapidly increased throughout the Third World, yet literacy and numeracy rates remain disappointing. Despite the inability of education to educate, employers still care about their grades. The marks don’t even signal foundational skill attainment, so why are people paying attention to them?

Third World schools don’t teach children how to read or do basic maths. However, they are still ranking the students. In an economy of workers that range from entirely to relatively less unskilled, every signal helps.

Schools in developing countries are an extreme example of something that exists in developed ones: education isn’t about teaching people skills. Educated people earn more money because they receive a lovely little stamp on their forehead that says, “I’m better than the other guy”.