We are in a race. Countries all around the world are fighting to dominate the global market. Japan, China, and India are taking advantage of the changing economy and the lack of American tenacity. It is our job, as Americans, to revitalize the American work ethic and propel ourselves into first place. Globalization aided by increased connectivity calls for heightened competition. The automation of skilled and unskilled jobs threatens the American workforce. The economy is changing to accommodate a high standard of excellence. As the world changes around us, we too must adapt so as not to be left in the dust. Currently, our public education system is falling behind, ranking 14th globally (Leppi). Many experts are emphatic that the reform of our education system would ensure our success in the developing global economy. Recently, “The American College Promise,” a program designed to offer free community college tuition to hard-working students, has been proposed as a solution to the American education crisis. While free community college would increase the number of diplomas, it would fail to prepare students to enter the workforce and leave them helpless to endure the transition to a global and automated world. Our resources are better spent reforming elementary education and preparing the future generation to rise above mediocrity through the power of creativity. Implementing “The American College Promise” would create a surge in college enrollment.
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A similar program has already yielded success in Tennessee. The U.S. Department of Education reports, “The program serves over 16,000 students and is contributing to a 10 percent increase in public higher education enrollment and a 25 percent increase at community colleges throughout Tennessee”. The program is proven to increase college enrollment and has the potential to be scaled nationwide. Obama insists that this plan will be successful because, “a college degree is the surest ticket to the middle class.” He is hopeful that an enlarged middle class will stabilize the U.S. economy amid the global uncertainty. While I concede that the program will increase the number of diplomas, the solution has a serious flaw: a college degree alone is not enough to ensure success in the future. Martin Ford, author of The Rise of the Robots, points out, “The unfortunate reality is that a great many people will do everything right—at least in terms of pursuing higher education and acquiring skills—and yet will still fail to find a solid foothold in the new economy” (xvi). A higher education might push you up into the middle class, but it does not make you invincible against the army of robots and foreign workers. The next generation of workers is already struggling to compete. Millennials make up 40 percent of unemployed Americans and “by 2020, millennials will be an estimated 46 percent of all U.S. workers” (Goodman). It is becoming harder and harder for college graduates to find adequate employment. Leah McGrath Goodwin tells the story of one such struggling student: A 25-year-old who recently earned a master’s and is living with a friend in Washington, D.C., tells Newsweek she is waitressing while looking for a job better suited to her qualifications. “It’s hard,” she says. “They don’t want to pay you extra for your master’s. There are enough people with master’s degrees that they can require them.” Today we are facing the problem of degree inflation, which is the idea that because more people have degrees, the …show more content…
Thomas Friedman reminds us, “the average and the dumb…were made that way. They were shaped in large measure by school systems” (314). Children are being taught to be average. Sir Kenneth Robinson explains how: “They’ve spent ten years at school being told there’s one answer it’s at the back and don’t look” (3). The current education system breeds mediocrity by encouraging conformity, but the competitive nature of the evolving economy requires individuality and rejects conformity. Sir Kenneth Robinson cites a study that shows the deterioration of students’ creative abilities. The test asks 1,500 kindergarteners to list all the uses for a paperclip. It forces them to think in unexpected ways. Ninety-eight percent of the kindergarteners showed that they excelled at thinking divergently. The same students were routinely tested as they got older and each time the scores decreased. The study suggests that perhaps creativity doesn’t need to be taught it just needs to be
A similar program has already yielded success in Tennessee. The U.S. Department of Education reports, “The program serves over 16,000 students and is contributing to a 10 percent increase in public higher education enrollment and a 25 percent increase at community colleges throughout Tennessee”. The program is proven to increase college enrollment and has the potential to be scaled nationwide. Obama insists that this plan will be successful because, “a college degree is the surest ticket to the middle class.” He is hopeful that an enlarged middle class will stabilize the U.S. economy amid the global uncertainty. While I concede that the program will increase the number of diplomas, the solution has a serious flaw: a college degree alone is not enough to ensure success in the future. Martin Ford, author of The Rise of the Robots, points out, “The unfortunate reality is that a great many people will do everything right—at least in terms of pursuing higher education and acquiring skills—and yet will still fail to find a solid foothold in the new economy” (xvi). A higher education might push you up into the middle class, but it does not make you invincible against the army of robots and foreign workers. The next generation of workers is already struggling to compete. Millennials make up 40 percent of unemployed Americans and “by 2020, millennials will be an estimated 46 percent of all U.S. workers” (Goodman). It is becoming harder and harder for college graduates to find adequate employment. Leah McGrath Goodwin tells the story of one such struggling student: A 25-year-old who recently earned a master’s and is living with a friend in Washington, D.C., tells Newsweek she is waitressing while looking for a job better suited to her qualifications. “It’s hard,” she says. “They don’t want to pay you extra for your master’s. There are enough people with master’s degrees that they can require them.” Today we are facing the problem of degree inflation, which is the idea that because more people have degrees, the …show more content…
Thomas Friedman reminds us, “the average and the dumb…were made that way. They were shaped in large measure by school systems” (314). Children are being taught to be average. Sir Kenneth Robinson explains how: “They’ve spent ten years at school being told there’s one answer it’s at the back and don’t look” (3). The current education system breeds mediocrity by encouraging conformity, but the competitive nature of the evolving economy requires individuality and rejects conformity. Sir Kenneth Robinson cites a study that shows the deterioration of students’ creative abilities. The test asks 1,500 kindergarteners to list all the uses for a paperclip. It forces them to think in unexpected ways. Ninety-eight percent of the kindergarteners showed that they excelled at thinking divergently. The same students were routinely tested as they got older and each time the scores decreased. The study suggests that perhaps creativity doesn’t need to be taught it just needs to be