A Sociology professor of mine many years ago, asked the following of our class:
What is the most important component in the continuation of a society?
The answer is reproduction and the care and education of offspring.
Fast forward to a conversation I had with a family member recently about the UAW. My home town is in the Deep South. Both my sibling and I moved away after college. Many friends and family back home had utter disdain for the Detroit car companies. The car manufacturers in the South are not unionized. I use the word "had" because those working in the Southern car plants are beginning to realize what the fall of Detroit will mean to them - wages and benefits will be rescinded. The unions set the standard for Blue Collar Worker in the U.S.
Follow me as the debate continues ...
I was discussing this premise with my sibling who is in Finance and a world traveller.
His response was:
As for the U.S. workforce, I would just make the following observations:
- The average US-born blue collar worker today is less educated, less technically trained and arguably has less of a work ethic / pride in their work than their parents did 30 years ago.
- This is largely driven by a decrease in education as a priority for many Americans and for society as a whole
- High school graduation rates for 2008 in the US were less than 1998 (this is the first time this has ever happened in a 1st world country)
He further went on to say:
If steps to improve education are not pushed forward in the country, then we will continue to have a chasm between
a) the upper class that is at the forefront of some of the world’s most technological innovations and who continue to make some of the highest salaries on earth and
b) lower/middle class workers whose best prospects are service level jobs working at Starbucks, in the mall, at the local casino or in an onshore call center that will eventually get relocated overseas.
Think of the IPOD, many pharmaceutical and medical advances, some of the entertainment advances from Hollywood, yes, even despite the recent stumbles many financial sector advancements over the last 30 years such as credit cards / mutual funds / etc. -----many of these were born here in the U.S. and will continue to do so.
The question is whether like Microsoft, both the brains / R&D work as well as the actual worker bee production can be done here in the U.S. or is everything moving to an IPOD model where the R&D work is done in the U.S. and the actual manufacturing is sent overseas because U.S. workers do not have the skill level and productivity to compete.
My response to his assertion is
You don’t see protests for better schools. Those who can pay more for education - do.
Until the pay is enough to attract public school teachers, we will have this problem.
Add that (especially now) more members of a family have to work to support the family unit – you can see the incentive to quit school and join the unskilled labor force at a younger age.
The solution to the problem will either require a collective shift in thinking or someone like Roosevelt who made great sweeping changes to Labor Laws with great vision.
I invite you to join the discussion.
Do you feel teachers are paid to the scale of the services they provide? Are they paid enough to attract the best and the brightest?
With college costs on the rise, will this impede upward social mobility?
Will the next generation be better off than the last one in the U.S.?
Is there a correlation between education and middle class living standards?
Will the lack of education lead to the fall of the U.S. as a world power? Has it already?