Of Education and Jobs and the American Dream

So I was reading Babs Ray's Blog about the Invisible Class and as it turns out only 30% of Americans have a 4 year college degree, and with the disappearing manufacturing base in this country that means that a lot of people are disappearing from the middle class. In addition, I was reading somewhere, that escapes me just now, that of 36 advanced nations the U.S. is #12 in college degrees held among citizens. Then I read an article by Hanna Rosin, in The Atlantic Monthly, called "The End of Men" in which she notes that more women are receiving degrees than men in America today, and are beginning to outstrip men in the job and earnings market.

So what's up with education in America? Is the country going to hell in a handcart? Is the future of this country one where a minority of educated Americans are living the high life in gated communities while the rest fight it out for what they can get on what is paid in jobs at McDonalds and Wal-Mart? Let's face it, this country needs some serious adapting? Our cultural values need some adjusting. Our economy needs some adjusting.

For one thing, there is a largish stream of thought in America that is anti-intellectual. We've all heard the stories someone tells about the genius who could think great thoughts, but who couldn't tie his own shoes. This is usually followed by a remark about "good common sense." Well let's all face it boys and girls, good common sense is called logic. Mr. Spock would be proud of you for preaching its virtues, but for the record I know a lot of really smart people and they all possess "good common sense." They can all tie their shoes. They change light bulbs and furnace filters and use screw drivers and wrenches as well as the next guy. It's just that if their jobs focus more on mental activities they don't get as much practice with the physical stuff and guys who do it all the time are a little better. Likewise, guys who don't use their heads for anything but a place to hang their hats don't do too well with the reasoning thing either.

The point is that there are a lot of guys out there who think it is somehow less manly to be a good student. It's OK to repair cars, fix broken chairs, and do things with your hands, but necessarily less macho to do things that require the use of the head instead. Speaking as a guy who has spent most of his life working in jobs that are dominated by women, i.e. healthcare and education, well I have a job and it pays OK. A lot of those guys who are anti-intellectual and want to work with their hands somehow, instead of working with their heads, well their jobs have disappeared and are continuing to do so at a rapid rate. It's OK to be smart Bozos. And if it motivates you, remember, guys with more money attract more girls, or for you gay guys, you'll attract more guys.

That being said, the age of women's liberation helped create a new woman, able to compete in the labor force and they have no problem with being smart and doing mental work and making more money as a result. Now they are finding themselves in a position where they don't really need you guys. No B.A.? No job? No woman? Or for the gay guys, see the above reference. Same thing. Somewhere down the line there has to be a cultural shift that allows boys to focus on being the smartest in addition to or in lieu of being the strongest and the fastest.

That being said, with manufacturing jobs being shipped by the millions overseas because corporations would rather pay someone in Asia $.30 per hour than pay an American $15.00 per hour plus benefits. What are all of those guys going to do who used to take factory jobs? Well we need to adapt, come up with new high-tech and green industries that can be done right here in America. Thing is though, most of these kind of industries will require fine motor skills and a little thinking skill rather than the brute force kind of labor we used to rely on in America. True, not all will require a college degree, but most will require some kind of training after high school. We cannot support a nation with all service industry jobs. Learn to operate a few computer programs, learn to use some basic algebra, learn what it takes to get and keep a job.

Into the mix is the fact that this country has the notion that keeps getting passed around that every kid can go to college. Every kid cannot go to college. Fully 40% of the kids who start college don't end up with a degree. So it's not just the attitudes of the guys in this country that have to change, it's an educational system that needs to adapt to give valuable job skills to those 70% of Americans who don't get a college degree. It's an economy that has to adapt to making things here in America that can keep us competitive in the world market, so all of our money does not continue to flow overseas where people do make useful things. The good news is that America still has the largest economy in the world. Overall we still have a high standard of living. The bad news is that if we continue on the track we're on, we risk becoming a poor backwater with a wealthy elite and a huge poverty stricken working class with no in between. Which do we prefer?