How to make the US globally competitive: Develop More Skills

[oberon_1]

Originally Posted by texdav

I think the income gap shows just what society wants and will pay for. We need to seroius look at just what our universities prodcut is and what is needed. The day of a liberal arts degree being then trained by a componau for anther job is gone.We are now facing Cinese peasdants who can turn a screwdriver as well as we other unskilled workers and do it at a less price. This isn't the post WWII years where they had no facility to turn that screwdriver to produce. Skill levels need to be higher as always to support those risng wage levels veruses others in the world.

"just what society wants and will pay for"
Society will pay for whatever we can get. Same society was ready to pay differently 30 years ago. However, someone opened the flood gates and created a different reality. These were not "market forces", nature or God's will. It was a policy implemented by people with a certain ideology (not restricted to one party). It went across the board.
I absolutely reject the idea that the US society is held back by lack of one skill or another. These are technical and temporary factors, while the current recession is fundamental and long lasting. Americans flooded science and technical schools 30-50 years ago. We have the best schools in the world. Is it a coincidence? However last 30 years proved that jobs associated with MBA, business or financial investments pay much more. That was part of the social shift I mention.
The other extreme is the astronomical pay to executives. Do you think society decided to pay these folks 100 fold one morning?
It is often a result of loose agreements, mafia style. The board votes for paying a fortune to one individual in return for similar favor at another company. Same people serve in many boards, part of an exclusive club. That in turn puts pressure on other institutions to follow siit and works like a snowball. It was proven beyond doubt that increasing pay to $10M for someone who made $1M before, will not improve their performance by one iota.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by EddieB.Good

We won't know how much truth is in that until we deal w/ the fact that almost all gains in productivity are going to the people at the top of the company. I can't stomach the conversation that starts off that we need to pay our employees wages in line w/ the 3rd world, while paying our executives record-levels. Either the global competition affects everyone, or it doesn't.

What about when Bill Clinton said it? He came right out and said Americans had to begin to compete with the third world labor. And that's why he pushed NAFTA through and took all those trips to China.

Your government is what's doing this - and Obama only expanded NAFTA so there can be even more cheap third world labor.

[rbohm]

Originally Posted by dman72

And of course the usual parade of anti-teacher right wingers with their talk radio marching orders stumble their way into a good thread like bulls in a china cabinet.

i am not anti teacher, but rather anti teachers unions and anti NEA. i also believe that we need to get the federal government out of education, and put the administration back in the hands of local school boards. we also need to eliminate tenure so that teachers dont rest on their laurels once they reach that pinnacle. we also need to get rid of bad teachers.

second we need to get the courts out of the school system as well. parents sue the schools because their kid failed third grade, and force the school to move the kid along. then when the kid turns 18 and is functionally illiterate, they again sue the school system for failing to educate the kid. this crap has to stop. if the kid fails hold them back a grade until they pass.

third we need to eliminate the social engineering that is going on in the schools today. we have high school graduates who dont know the history of the US because the school system decided it was better to teach world history instead.

fourth we need to set the bar high and challenge the kids to reach the bar. we can no longer decided that just basic math is ok for everyone.

There is a wide disparity in schools in the US. School districts where I live are high performing, for the most part, but many people will tell you that's about demographics and not the schools themselves.

in part it is more about demographics than the schools, but i agree we need to bring ALL schools up to a high standard. we also need to eliminate the rabble rousers in the school so the students that are willing to learn can learn. we also need to allow real school choice as well. the school voucher system has been used to good effect over the years, and should be instituted nationwide.

we should also encourage the best and the brightest in any way possible.

I think starting this skills based approach that the OP mentions is where we should begin in the worst peforming schools. Stop trying to teach every kid in the inner city to be a renaissance man/woman. I like English Lit but what's the point if the don't see it as having any function? Teach them something they can use and that the country can use.

i agree and disagree. i agree that we need to start somewhere, and the worst schools are a good place to start. when people see what can be done, things will change for the better.

i disagree though in not teaching english literature. a well rounded education is always beneficial in the long run. i do agree though that we need to teach the skills that kids are going to need when they grow up. but those skills can be taught along side other classes as well.

and i agree that not everyone can be an engineer, or a doctor, frankly i know that there are always going to be a need to technicians, mechanics, etc. but even they need a well rounded education.

[gwynedd1]

We are priced out of the market as a debt ridden economy paying interest overhead to the banks. How can you compete paying bankers thousands for the ground underneath you? The way to make it in this country is to be a native land owner with equity or an immigrant who got a free education. A native renter who pays for their education is twice baked. They can't compete. Only the endlessly exported dollar keeps it afloat. They still need our dollars, but they can usually buy other stuff cheaper somewhere else that does not have such huge costs of living heaped on their labor pool.