Yes, but it depends on the question.
If the aim is to boost income and productivity, well, the situation isn't as clear as you might think.
How do we know?
Try this study . . .
Firstly, the hard economic case. The libertarian think-tank the Library of Economics and Liberty did the sums, and they reckon that you can't make the case for education on issues like economic growth alone. Yes, there may be a relationship, but it's not simply the case that if you 'educate' people they become more productive. Perhaps it's different if you 'train' them . . .
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/10/did_nations_tha.html
The following quote comes from a column celebrating Halloween in the London Telegraph. It seems particularly relevant considering the 'all work, no fun' approach to education that is being venerated here in Australia . . .
So think of me, as twilight falls, leading a party of children to Cambridge’s best hidden treasure: the ravishing, yet eerie, Ascension Parish Burial Ground, where we’ll skirt quietly round the grave of Ludwig Wittgenstein. If I come across disapproving members of the living, I will console myself with the great philosopher’s words: “If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.”
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