Why All This Matters

emp-1from the Economic Data blog, via Matt Yglesias.

The details of education policy debates should never distract us from the fundamental truth that your economic and life opportunities vary tremendously based your level of education and the skills and knowledge you acquire. I’m not a big fan of using this kind of language, but at some point there’s no getting around the fact that improving educational attainment–particularly for historically underserved young people–is both an economic and a social justice issue.

–Sara Mead

One Reply to “Why All This Matters”

  1. This always strikes me as an issue that looks entirely different depending on who I am speaking to.

    If I’m talking to a student…then yes, go to school so that you have more options and earning power.

    If I’m looking at the system…then the issue is that we need to reconfigure the workplace to increase job prospects for high school grads. Only about 20% of all jobs require a college education. (http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2007/11/art5full.pdf) Saying–and I’m not sure if this is your opinion–that we need to vastly increase the number of students who attend college ignores the reality of the job market.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.