Is rising education a symptom of progress?

"Workers in some countries are a lot more productive than workers in other countries. One of the main differences is that people in more productive countries have more education. When we hear that education in a country is going up, we normally take this as a sign that productivity is rising. Question: If the signaling model of education is right, does this mean that rising education is not a sign of progress? Does it mean that rising education is actually a sign of decay?!" (04/12/12)