Why school?

Education has become a very contentious and polarizing issue throughout the United States. Here, the subject of schooling, and the dynamic changes occurring in the industry, have resulted in antagonistic and vigorous debate. Arguments have taken a litany of forms ranging from teacher pay and benefits, to proper testing of students. Others have questioned the education model of the United States and have proposed a more comprehensive and interconnected approach towards education. Even governments have entered into the discourse due in part to high student loan debt balances, rising tuition costs, and lack of relevant school. Each argument has both its strengths and weaknesses complicating the eventually solution towards the education issues of society. Thankfully, according to recent research, a disproportionate number of American citizens are in favor of increasing education spend, adopting new programs, and ultimately raising the educational standards of America (Driver, 2018). Under this backdrop, the solution to these issues, irrespective of what it may be, looks to be promising.

Why is school important?

To begin, why is school should an important issue to begin with? Why has education become so paramount to economic success? For one a confluence of forces largely economic have coalesced together to make the overall labor market much more competitive. Historically, during the industrial revolution, college and university study was often reserved for wealthier white males. Here, many minorities and women where excluded from college and universities as the country was still grappling with sexism and racism (To be fair, the country is still bearing with these issues today, albeit at a much lessor extent). Prior to the industrial revolution, 7 out of 10 workers where employed in the agriculture field which often required little schooling. As the industrial revolution began to unfold, education requirements where still relatively low as most workers didnt require specialized knowledge to operate machinery. Innovations such as the assembly line, railroad track laying, and industrial trades did not require a large amount of specialized knowledge. As result a typical male would begin work at 18, and was often the sole provider of the income when he eventually married. The female during his period also did not have a high education as she often was the housewife, being sure to take care of the home while the husband was working.

Armed with this basic knowledge, we can now contrast the educational requirements of the industrial revolution with those of the technology revolution to determine why school is so important. Technology has now become the most dominate force in economic activity today. Here, the emergence of the internet has brought with it a litany of economic changes. Education, and the ability to learn in now readily available to all those who have internet. This has reduced information asymmetry between countries as now everyone has access to similar information. Armed...

For example, this period has been marked with extreme innovations from all parts of the world. A rising middle class in both China and India has made the labor market more competitive. As the labor markets are more competitive, perspective candidates must have an ability to differentiate themselves from others (Hargreaves, 2012). This is why school is so important as it provides a skillset that can allow employees to differentiate themselves from peers in the labor market. This differentiation can result in higher wages, higher wealth, and an overall much more productive lifestyle. If done properly, it also insulates employee from layoffs when the evitable market downturn occurs (Guinier, 2015).

Globalization and the emergence of technology also requires individuals...

…expense healthcare for treatment. Likewise, the professor also mentioned financial literacy as another failing in school. Here, he sites the social security issue and how many young students paying today, will likely have reduced benefits, higher retirement age, and less purchasing power than they do today. With proper personal retirement savings, many young people will be doomed to lifelong labor to support their lifestyles. Schools should be properly teaching these disciplines in order to protect the individual but also the budget and solvency of the Unites States retirement systems.

NextI interview Mr. Benny Valdes a principal at my prior high school. Here, I asked him questions as to what changes with the curriculum or programing does the school plan to improve outcomes. One element of interest that I found during our interview was the use of STEAM techniques to better prepare children in school for skills that will be useful in the future. Here, Valdes explained the concept of STEAM to me. Here, STEAM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, are the core competencies the form the backbone of the coming technological revolution. Valdes sited research from the debarment of education with states that STEAM occupations are expected to grow roughly 9% by 2030 as compared to non-STEAM related positions that are forecast to grow at just 5%. Likewise the incomes of STEAM related jobs will be nearly double those of non-STEAM jobs in the future. Asa result the high school has adopted a pilot program using various STEAM principles. Once such principle of STEAM curriculum is that it focuses on providing an adaptable framework for education that highlights relationships between subject areas instead of reviewing them individually within a silo. This, according to Valdez will ultimately improve critical thinking skills while ultimately created a much more robust…