"Man cannot live by bread alone." Thus did Moses admonish his people, then living on the very margins of survival. How much truer, then, should this be for those who enjoy unprecedented prosperity.

Yet anybody who pays attention to the UK's debate on education and training would reach precisely the opposite conclusion. Over the past two centuries, the UK's real incomes per head have risen at least 10-fold. Today, nobody starves; nobody is without clothing; virtually nobody is without shelter; and the vast majority can expect to live for at least three score years and 10. The material challenges of human existence have been solved. Yet we talk as if nothing mattered except the country's ability to create still greater material wealth.