edweek.org Diplomas Count
http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2006/06/22/index.html?levelId=2300
As we have been discussing education, I thought this might interest you. It is a study of each states' reported and actual high school graduation rates. I downloaded the report for Georgia, and see that the state is doing a great job of preparing citizens for work in mines, mills, and other work that requires little or no specialized education or training. Oh wait, those jobs are no longer available in large numbers here. Mostly, we have jobs that require college educations. At least caucasian females will do alright since they appear to be the best performing group isolated in the numbers.
Interesting stuff and thanks to the Gates Foundation for their funding. I suspect Bill Gates will be a much better philantropist full time than he has been CEO of Microsoft the past few years. The foundation he and his wife fund provides for much public good and they should be thanked for it.
June 21st, 2006
Interesting questions… Which jobs are the "available in large numbers" jobs that require a college degree? Where will our country make the base of our wealth in the future?
June 22nd, 2006
I base my observations on the number of, and listed qualifications of job ads I see in the paper and online. As I have not looked for nor held employment for 17 years, I have no personal experience. I also rely on the observations of my girlfriend since she has worked in human resources as an analyst for several years. Additionally, her experience seeking new employment last year indicated that there were no jobs in the salary range she was considering that did not require a degree. Experience was mostly deemed irrelevant if an applicant did not have the piece of paper indicating that one had graduated from a college or university.
As for where our future base of wealth will originate, it will likely come from tapping the vast natural resources we currently reserve as public holding. We have sold off much of our manufacturing base, or allowed it to relocate to sources of cheaper labor. It may also be possible that the economy will collapse, making it more palatable for us to weaken or destroy our environmental and labor protection laws, and to see a drastic lowering of wages & benefits. Were these things to happen, manufacturers and other business that is labor intensive and produces something tangible will find it once again worth their while to have plants here.
It seems clear to me that the so-called "service economy" is not sustainable nor does it produce anything that can be said to have value. Once service is consumed, it is gone, with nothing to show for it but a record of the transaction. I think that distribution of wealth in this country is returning to something akin to what it was like 100 years ago. The much pandered to "middle class", which was created by the rise in manufacturing, which boomed as we entered World War 2, will become a historical footnote of interest if we allow current trends to continue. I suspect our future will show a relatively tiny "middle class", at least as it tends to be defined by economists today, a huge pool of people who mostly live from paycheck to paycheck, and a tiny pool of very wealthy folks who own most everything. The difference between what I expect and what things were like 100 years ago regarding wealth distribution, is that 100 years ago we had a huge segment of the population living on farms or in rural settings mostly surviving via subsistence and barter. For the past several decades in this country, people have been leaving rural areas to seek better opportunities in cities. This trend has also been taking place around the world the past several years. The result here has not been as stark as elsewhere, but we have a better infrastructure, and a better funded government to provide aid. I don’t know if this migration is sustainable should it continue. How will all these folks be fed and housed once all the low paying service jobs are filled?
This is a disturbing train of thought. Thanks for provoking it.
June 26th, 2006
Sorry it took so long. I was out of town…
I just wanted to be sure what we were discussing. The "Good ol’ boy" system of "College Degree Required" for a job is definitely in force (as are a variety of other certifications). I had originally thought from your statement that you felt that educational institutions were going to have to provide more than some form of title to make a person "qualified" for the majority of positions in the future…
I agree that we do not seem to have any vision for where we will generate wealth in the future. A friend of mine summed it up in a statement that appeals to me. The gist is: "I’m afraid that before long we will realize that our economy has become much like the exoskeleton of an insect, solid on the outside yet hollow on the inside. You won’t know it’s dead and empty till it crumbles".
This sounds so much like a doom and gloom sci-fi setting. I keep wondering if I’m just seeing a future I’ve programmed myself to see, or if they were all right…
One thing for sure… If you want to survive in the future you had better learn to rub royal jelly on the bellies of your robot masters… :)