This article explores the relationship between local (informal) knowledge, academic skills, and individual productivity. It argues that educational reform efforts often misinterpret and simplify this relationship in their attempt to improve the contribution of mass schooling to individual performance at work and as a citizen. As a consequence, many contemporary reform efforts inaccurately portray the productive capacity of the American public, propose curricular reforms and measurement strategies which are conceptually under developed, and may fail to realize their stated goals.
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