In every political campaign (at least the good ones) there is a “book,” outlining the issues the candidate will face, and the arguments and positions the candidate takes. It is so everyone on the campaign is literally on “the same page” when it comes to that issue. I’m not running for office, but over the next several weeks, I will be presenting a series of issues for my “briefing book.”
Education – part two-The Cost and the debt
Our society has become more complex. There are fewer and fewer jobs like those of our fathers and grandfathers: jobs learned “on the job.” Once there were good factory jobs, bolting things together or taping refrigerator doors shut before shipment. Unions made sure those jobs paid a living wage. Now those factories are gone, the unions disappearing, and a robot tapes the doors shut anyway.
It takes two more years
As the world’s complexity increases, the need for education increases as well. It is clear today, that the thirteen years of free public education offered (K-12) is not enough for meaningful employment. Most jobs with living wages require post-high school training, and many more require advanced degrees.
Right now, we demand that our children, or their parents, pay for that advanced education. It’s a high cost. Even two years of technical college (Central Ohio Technical College) costs almost $5,000/year in tuition. The local community college (Ohio State – Newark) is $10,000/year.
In our era where many are living paycheck-to-paycheck, there is little alternative but to borrow for advanced education. Technical College: the student puts in two years and gains $10,000 in debt. Community College: students spend four years and have $40,000 of debt.
We are saddling our young with this tremendous debt burden as they enter the workforce, preventing them from taking full advantage of mobility and the economy. They are stuck, “…another day older, and deeper in debt” (from Tennessee Ernie Ford’s song to the coal miner, Sixteen Tons.) They live at home, they take whatever job they can, and they pay, and pay, and pay. But they have little choice; the jobs available with a high school diploma seldom offer a living wage.
the cost
The United States is already spending over $91 Billion for the costs of student loans and grants each year. To add a year of public education would cost around $100 Billion, less the $91 Billion that is already spent. That means for $9 Billion, spread across the fifty states, we could provide an additional year of FREE public education. That’s $18 Billion for two years; enough to finish a technical degree to prepare for employment, or half of a four-year degree.
“FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION” is, of course, not free. It is paid for by the taxpayers, all of them, in order to “do the right thing” for our children, and our future. This is what society and government are supposed to do; instead of making those who need the education and are least able to pay for it bear the burden, often for decades. The banks gain profit, while society loses out.
This would not be a mandatory requirement, like K-12 education. High School graduates could make other choices, including the military. In fact, there would be a tremendous growth benefit if graduated youth in the United States were offered a year or two of public service, allowing them to earn even more educational benefits. But the first two years of training should be made available, for free, to finalize their education.
the benefit
We are responsible for preparing our youth for the future. It’s not “socialism,” it’s as American as the Northwest Ordinance of 1784, when public land was set aside for education. The founding fathers recognized that only an educated people could maintain a democracy. We later determined that our nation needed a better-educated workforce, first up to eighth grade, then through high school. We made a national commitment towards math and sciences in the 1950’s to improve our military defense.
This modest proposal is simply a further extension of those ideals. The infrastructure is already in place (though it may require expansion.) The cost is minimal. The benefit: we improve our economy, we get a better-trained workforce, and we relieve the newest workers in our society of a crushing financial burden at the start of their work life. And, it’s the right thing to do.
Martin, I love you, but I disagree with your notion that we need more years of education. I respect your experience as a teacher. But I have 40 years experience dealing with those kids educated by the “system”, (high school and/or college) and my job was to get them to produce valuable work output. It was bloody hard. The problem was never a need for quantitatively more education. It was misguided education.
Today’s curriculums are the same as for Davy Crockett. He had to know how to read, write, shoot, and do simple math. “If the family eats ten rabbits a week, how many do I need to shoot each day?”
Today’s students’ phones can count rabbits. They need to learn how to work as part of a team. They need to learn how to solve complex problems involving customers. Today’s curriculums teach too much unneeded stuff. ‘Facts’ that can be conjured up on google need not be taught.
The billion dollar company for whom I worked had to put its Vice Presidents including me through a “Put It In Writing” course. This helped us un-learn the Chaucerian English taught in school, and re-learn how to write so that real people could understand us.
Our kids need smarter education, and less of it.