INEQUALITY OF HUMAN CAPITAL AND THE POWER RESOURCE: PROBLEM IN-DEPTH OF THAI YOUTH DECISION TO DECLINE HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Education contributes concretely and abstractly to human development, and the continuous education of young people, especially at the higher education level, is important for economic and social balance and the country's development in the 21st century. However, young people must rely on their and their family's economic and social capital to access higher education. Meanwhile, youth are subject to problems, conditions, and limitations due to capital disparities and resources that statistical data cannot measure. This article studies the inequality of human capital and power resources and the problem of Thai youth's decision to decline higher education. The author creates an equation to project power resources by subtracting benefits from costs in an in-depth dimension that reveals latent disparities in economic dimensions such as financial status, access to capital, and investment, as well as social dimensions such as household security, gender, and health leads to the decision not to pursue higher education and enter the labor market, where young people have the opportunity to be vulnerable to poverty and reproduce inequality in an endless cycle, passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, the direction of public education policy design must move towards and embrace all young people who desire to study by empowering resources to reduce the burden of life. Integrating through institutional mechanisms and social safety nets creates comprehensiveness toward a justice society.