Humanity’s phenomenal social progress over the past few hundred years has been driven by the realization that maximum development of the collective is accomplished by providing maximum freedom and opportunity for the development of each individual member of the collective. This realization underlies the extension of fundamental rights to every citizen, which is the foundation of all democratic forms of governance. The same realization also underlies the commitment of all societies to provide universal primary education to all their citizens. The combination of democracy and education has formed the basis for the scientific, technological and industrial revolutions that have spurred a 20-fold increase in real per capita income in Western Europe since 1800, while halving the average number o