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V1.3 Case Page #12 (Repair Intervention Exhibit)

United States (Late 1800s–Early 1900s): Compulsory Attendance Laws as a Forced Regeneration Switch (V1.3)

Case Claim (one-line)

The first wave of U.S. state compulsory schooling (attendance) laws—originating in the late 19th century and expanding into the early 20th—causally increased schooling attainment and earnings for impacted cohorts, showing how a governance intervention can force an education pipeline back toward regeneration. 

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1) Case Facts (dated, minimal)

  • Policy: U.S. state-level compulsory attendance laws (first wave), focused on keeping children in school up to roughly age 14 (with variations and related child labor/continuation schooling laws). 
  • Causal findings: Using the full-count 1940 Census and newly coded historical law data, researchers find the first wave of schooling laws increased educational attainment and raised earnings for affected cohorts. 
  • Interpretation: This is not “education advice.” It is a case where the state changed the regeneration boundary conditions.

This is a repair exhibit: what “turning regeneration ON” looks like.

2) Mechanism (EduKateOS / CivOS lattice mapping)

Z0 — More stabilisation time (more repetitions)

Compulsory attendance increases:

  • time on task
  • repetition density
  • exposure to verification routines

Z0 signature: pockets can stabilise because the pipeline is forced to deliver time and structure.

Z1 — Household buffering becomes less decisive (system absorbs more variance)

When attendance is enforced:

  • children’s education is less dependent on household willingness/ability
  • the system reduces variance in exposure

Z1 signature: the pipeline becomes more universal; fewer children fall through purely from household instability.

Z2 — Institutional throughput increases (and standards can be enforced)

Compulsory attendance only matters if institutions can absorb the additional students and maintain verification. The law-induced attainment change implies the institutional lane had enough capacity to translate time into attainment. 

Z3 — Measurable economic returns

The same work reports measurable returns to additional schooling in earnings outcomes. 

3) Irreversibility Signature (positive, not negative)

This is a “repair-direction irreversibility” exhibit:

  • once cohorts receive more stabilisation time, the increased attainment and returns show up later in adult outcomes. 

4) General Law (portable, predictive)

Forced-Regeneration Switch Law:
Education pipelines can be shifted by governance when the intervention changes time-on-task and participation constraints enough to alter cohort stabilisation. This is what “P0 → P1/P2” looks like in a measurable population.

5) Exhibits (sources)

  • Clay, Lingwall, Stephens (2021) Labour Economics: first-wave compulsory attendance laws increased schooling attainment and earnings (full-count 1940 census; new coding of laws). 
  • ISER working paper: long-term impacts of compulsory schooling on qualifications and adult outcomes (supporting general mechanism). 

Standard Bridge Block (Bukit Timah → New York → Planetary)

This repair exhibit is the counterweight to collapse cases: it proves that pipelines are not purely “cultural.” They are controllable through boundary conditions (time, enforcement, capacity). Once Bukit Timah establishes P0 corridor signatures, recovery lanes must be real interventions that restore stabilisation time and verification—otherwise the system remains non-regenerative.

Start Here for our Ministry of Education Series (CivOS/EducationOS Grade)

BukitTimahTutor Lattice Graph Block

Z0 Execution:
BTT.MAT.Z0.P.ALG.001
BTT.MAT.Z0.P.DIF.001
BTT.SEN.Z0.S.TTC.001
BTT.MAT.Z0.S.ERR.001

Z1 Support Loops:
BTT.PAR.Z1.P.HOM.001
BTT.TUI.Z1.P.SCF.001
BTT.SEN.Z1.S.DEP.001
BTT.SEN.Z1.S.FCG.001

Z2 Exam/Transition:
BTT.EXM.Z2.P.SEC.001
BTT.EDU.Z2.P.TRN.001
BTT.EXM.Z2.B.OLEV.001

Z3 Interfaces:
SG.EDU.Z3.B.SYL.001
SG.EDU.Z3.B.EXM.001
SG.EDU.Z3.B.PLC.001

Edges:
BTT.TUI.Z1.P.SCF.001 BindsTo BTT.MAT.Z0.P.ALG.001
BTT.MAT.Z0.P.ALG.001 BindsTo BTT.EXM.Z2.P.SEC.001
BTT.EDU.Z2.P.TRN.001 Impacts BTT.EXM.Z2.B.OLEV.001
BTT.SEN.Z1.S.DEP.001 Impacts BTT.EXM.Z2.P.SEC.001
BTT.SEN.Z0.S.TTC.001 Observes BTT.EXM.Z2.P.SEC.001