How is an education purchased as a display of wealth? Education is the single most efficient way to raise your standard of living compared to that of your parents.
There is no question that much education and much housing is purchased for entirely practical reasons, and I'm not asserting otherwise. That is not incompatible with them sometimes serving as displays of wealth - a need for my children to go to the best schools, whatever the cost (of which tuition plays only a part, to be sure).