Indonesian Higher Education 139
graduates in terms of academic achievement and socio-economic status.
I find that school quality differences of these schools and unobservable
variables explain the difference of higher education participation among
these groups. Specifically, a low level of parents’ education and academic
achievement provides an important contribution to a low probability of
entering higher education for private non-religious school graduates.
On the other hand, a low level of father’s education and family income
contribute substantially to a low probability of accessing higher education
for the private non-religious group.
Failing a grade in primary education reduces the probability of
higher education attendance of public and private Islamic school
graduates by 0.288 and 0.149 log points respectively. The significant
effect on early academic achievement in earnings formation supports the
investing in early childhood argument by Heckman (2006). Investing in
early childhood education programme creates higher returns than later
interventions such as public job training programme, reduced teacher-
pupil ratio, convict rehabilitation programs or expenditure on police
(Heckman 2006).
Notes
- See Altonji (1993) for a model that explicitly estimates the uncertainty that is
inherent in the higher education participation decision. - For detail sampling method, see “The 1993 Indonesian Family Life Survey”,
DRU-1195/1-6-NICHD/AID, The RAND Corporation, December 1995. - Note that the significant coefficient on constant and selectivity variable are
ignored. - The gap on dummy province and selectivity variable are not shown in the table
since I do not focus for those determinants. The gap on dummy province is
xxx and for xxx selectivity variable in private Christian group.
References
Akabayashi, H. “Average effects of school choice on educational attainment: Evidence
from Japanese high school attendance zones”. Unpublished manuscript, 2006
http://www.econ.keio.ac.jp/staff/hakab/akabayashijsa.pdf.
Altonji, J.G. “The demand for and return to education when education outcomes
are uncertain”. Journal of Labor Economics 11, no. 1 (1993): 48–83.
———, T. Elder and C. Taber. “Selection on observed and unobserved variables: