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Public education had a huge effect on raising up the middle class from about 1900 until the 60s. The middle class heyday in the midcentury corresponded with the heyday of public education. Go figure.
The reasons for the decline of public education are legion and I don't want to rehash that debate. I'm more concerned with why we rarely hear about this decline as a driver of inequality. Wage stagnation is blamed on outsourcing, union busting, technology, etc. Underlying wage stagnation is productivity stagnation. And productivity stagnates when people stop becoming more educated.
Is it possible that the middle class is disappearing because the middle class is losing skills due to the decline of public education? I think it's very possible.
That has been a hot topic in WA state. Legislature took a swag at fixing it by implementing a state wide property tax and capping local levies in order to fully fund education from the state level. It’s received a mixed response, teacher strikes, and now projected school deficits.
you do know there is no middle class, never have been, wages start at the top and goes to the bottom, the term middle class is a government invented term to make poor people feel good about themselves. middle class is not going away, some people are getting smarter and moving up and some people are getting dumber by being lazy and refusing education, but the rate stays the same, it goes from the rich to the poor in one motion with people in between.
It's partly because of "Polanyi's Paradox," jobs at the ends of both spectrum are difficult to automate. Ever seen a robot put sheets on a bed, cut someones hair, or fix a pipe? No, because humans have a "tacit" knowledge or an intuition that makes them more effective in these types of "low-skilled" jobs. Further, it's unlikely the next software idea in Silicon Valley will be birthed by AI. This is confirmed empirically in economic literature: lots of "high-skilled" jobs and "low-skilled" jobs are being created, but not a lot in the middle. Why? Because robots are good at crunching numbers and other mid-level tasks. And if a robot can't do it, someone in Vietnam or India can. That's why.
Interestingly, Elon Musk had to de-automate part of his Fremont factory because a robot couldn't accurately insert a bolt into a moving part; now a human does it. Again, it's often the simplest of tasks that computers struggle with. Any anyone who's ever written code can back me up.
Public education had a huge effect on raising up the middle class from about 1900 until the 60s. The middle class heyday in the midcentury corresponded with the heyday of public education. Go figure.
The reasons for the decline of public education are legion and I don't want to rehash that debate. I'm more concerned with why we rarely hear about this decline as a driver of inequality. Wage stagnation is blamed on outsourcing, union busting, technology, etc. Underlying wage stagnation is productivity stagnation. And productivity stagnates when people stop becoming more educated.
Is it possible that the middle class is disappearing because the middle class is losing skills due to the decline of public education? I think it's very possible.
The bolded statement is not necessarily true. Productivity is also effected by credit market frictions, weather, technology, and a thousand other things. Could declining productivity be attributed to some type of regression in skill level? That's highly doubtful because there's really no evidence of that.
Public education had a huge effect on raising up the middle class from about 1900 until the 60s. The middle class heyday in the midcentury corresponded with the heyday of public education. Go figure.
The reasons for the decline of public education are legion and I don't want to rehash that debate. I'm more concerned with why we rarely hear about this decline as a driver of inequality. Wage stagnation is blamed on outsourcing, union busting, technology, etc. Underlying wage stagnation is productivity stagnation. And productivity stagnates when people stop becoming more educated.
Is it possible that the middle class is disappearing because the middle class is losing skills due to the decline of public education? I think it's very possible.
Fixing education in America is a money pit black hole.
Fixing education in America is a money pit black hole.
No it's not. New research on brain development in children makes it pretty clear that universal pre-k could be one of the most important investments the US gov ever makes.
The bolded statement is not necessarily true. Productivity is also effected by credit market frictions, weather, technology, and a thousand other things. Could declining productivity be attributed to some type of regression in skill level? That's highly doubtful because there's really no evidence of that.
There are criticisms of the human capital theory of education, but the weight of the evidence supports it according to this meta-analysis. The paper is old but it's studying a perennial topic.
The empirical research of the past two decades
offers support for the human capital perspective as a
partial explanation of the education and economy
nexus.
Quote:
A survey of growth accounting studies covcring
29 countries and five continents found estimates of
education’s contribution to explaining economic
growth rates ranging from 0.8 per cent in Mexico to
25 per cent in the United States [Psacharopoulos
(1984)]. Other surveys have produced similar findings,
with estimates of education’s contribution ranging
from 2 to 28 per cent [Bowman (1970)l. Subsequent
studies using econometric methods to relate inputs
to outputs have corroborated the importance of edu-
cation to economic growth. For example, a study of
a number of countries from 1960 to 1977 found that
on average an increase in the literacy rate of 20
percentage points was associated with a 0.5 per cent
higher growth rate [Hicks (1980) ; similar findings are
presented in Wheeler (1980)
Public education had a huge effect on raising up the middle class from about 1900 until the 60s. The middle class heyday in the midcentury corresponded with the heyday of public education. Go figure.
The reasons for the decline of public education are legion and I don't want to rehash that debate. I'm more concerned with why we rarely hear about this decline as a driver of inequality. Wage stagnation is blamed on outsourcing, union busting, technology, etc. Underlying wage stagnation is productivity stagnation. And productivity stagnates when people stop becoming more educated.
Is it possible that the middle class is disappearing because the middle class is losing skills due to the decline of public education? I think it's very possible.
Not the primary factor. Conservatives correctly point out that the 1950s and 60's we were competing mostly with ruined countries destroyed in WWII. HOWEVER
Corporations are definitely outsourcing more and cheat systems like H1B (See Disney)
Do you think most of Europe would tolerate the level of predatory bust outs perpetrated by hedge funds and private equity funds? (Lampert at Sears, Bain at Worldwide Grinding)
GOP doing everything to reduce union power
GOP doing everything to increase corporate power
Quote:
Originally Posted by brownbagg
you do know there is no middle class, never have been, wages start at the top and goes to the bottom, the term middle class is a government invented term to make poor people feel good about themselves. middle class is not going away, some people are getting smarter and moving up and some people are getting dumber by being lazy and refusing education, but the rate stays the same, it goes from the rich to the poor in one motion with people in between.
Movement up the ladder is MORE difficult than many European countries for a variety of reasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bronxguyanese
Fixing education in America is a money pit black hole.
probably true do to how they would try to execute a plan, not because it is not possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PullMyFinger
100% parenting.
Meh disagree but I see where you are coming from. I personally had a TERRIBLE 7th grade math teacher who messed me up in math badly. Fortunately I had a very good 9th grade teacher who took the time to undo the damage. Much thanks to her.
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