Traditional modernization theory assumes that the spread of formal education is crucial to further economic and cultural change and that it broadly benefits the public interest. This view of the role of education in development is challenged by an alternative perspective which suggests that the distribution of educational resources may instead serve the narrow interests of elites. Concepts from both perspectives are operationalized and the theories tested using hierarchical multiple regression techniques with Thai provincial data from 1970. Results suggest an overall complementarity of both sets of factors.