Sweden is one of the leaders in a recent OECD survey of literacy and numeracy levels. Anders Aslund describes how the education system recovered from the ravages of the 1960s and 70s:
The Swedish school system, Palme’s [hardline socialist Olof Palme] original bailiwick, was badly ravaged by left-wing reforms of the 1960s and 1970s. Today, all pupils are entitled to school vouchers of equal value for each child of a certain age. Their parents can allocate this school voucher to any school the child is qualified to enter. As a result, while in the 1970s Sweden had only four private schools, one-fifth of Swedish secondary schools are now private, some for profit, others cooperatives or non-profit foundations…….
Read more at TheMoneyIllusion » A Lesson for Ed Balls (And Noah Smith).