We Must Improve Education (Part 1)
By Becky Newell, State Coordinator (West FL) on 06/07/2011 @ 10:28 AM
First published in Naples Daily News on May 29, 2011.
■ First of two parts
By Allen Weiss, M.D.
CEO, NCH Healthcare System
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
Former Harvard President Derek Bok was right on target with his characterization of the importance to our nation of quality education.
Our nation — and our community — are in the midst of a dramatic transition. America has slipped from the enviable position as industrial leader of the world last century to one of five dominant nations (China, India, Japan and Brazil being the others) during this century, according to George Friedman’s “The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century.”
As a region, our chal lenge in Southwest Florida is to evolve away from development and tourism (which carried us last century), to a knowledge-based economy with technological advances led by robust educational initiatives. The stark reality is that sunshine and tax advantages can take our region just so far in a global economy. Over the past three years, Florida has fallen from the second- fastest growing state to the 48th. Clearly, our state needs reinvention to re-establish its leadership position.
There is no silver bullet. But we can learn from history.
Over the centuries, during times of dramatic change, focus and collaboration on education efforts to influence the public good become paramount. Accordingly, in today’s uncertain era, we have a profound need among communities, citizens, all levels of schools and government to measurably improve the education of everyone in our society. This improvement will elevate us from the current descending spiral to an ascending virtuous cycle.
No one of us is as smart as all of us. Together, we can change our future for the better by focusing on education to produce more knowledge-based workers and boost our economy.
The importance of education to a vibrant economy
Noble Prize-winning economist James Heckman says that skills such as persistence, dependability and self-discipline are learned at an early age. Investing in early-childhood education pays off later, as children grow up with the kinds of social skills necessary for success in the labor market, as well as life.
The economic well-being of Southwest Florida no longer depends on the profitability of any one corporation or the prowess of any one industry, but on the value we add to the nation and, in turn, the global economy through our skills and insights. According to Robert Reich, former secretary of Labor, t he jobs we do — rather than the abstract entities like corporations, industries or national economies — are what will determine our standard of living.
Reich classifies jobs into the following three broad categories:
■ Routine production services: In about one-quarter of the jobs today in our country workers perform repetitive tasks. Although thought of as traditional blue-collar workers, this group includes supervisors doing repetitive work, such as monitoring quality, standardizing operations and generally managing repetitive processes. In the past, these workers were part of the manufacturing industries. Now, these services also include white-collar workers of the information economy who process data, work in the back offices of banks, insurance companies and health-care organizations, and others who typically work in environments with many other people doing the same thing.
All these workers and their supervisors are guided by standard procedures and codified rules. These people are reliable, loyal and follow directions. A standard education usually is sufficient to be successful as a member of the routine production services. These service people, says Reich, are necessary but not sufficient to move our local economy or national economy to the global competitive level.
■ In-person services: Approximately 30 percent of the workers today also perform simple repetitive tasks, and like the routine production service workers, the wages of this group are proportional to hours worked or amount of work performed. The education required usually is a high school diploma and some vocational training. The major difference between in-person and routine service workers is that in-person services must be provided face to face. This group includes retail sales workers, waiters, waitresses, hotel workers, janitors, cashiers, many types of health-care workers, secretaries, hairdressers, realtors and many more.
Like the routine production workers, in-person workers should be punctual, reliable and tractable. They must also have one additional essential characteristic — a pleasant demeanor. They must make others feel happy and at ease. Traditionally, many of these workers are female. Again, Reich argues that these in-person people are necessary but not sufficient to move our local economy or national economy to the global competitive level.
■ Symbolic-analytic services: Approximately 20 percent of Americans today identify and solve problems, or provide strategic services which can be used without regard to geography. Anyone anywhere can request a service from or receive a benefit from a symbolic-analytic service person. Examples include research scientists, engineers, media and marketing experts, energy consultants, management consultants, art directors, film editors and even university professors.
Symbolic-analytic service workers rarely come in contact with those who benefit from their work. Typically these creative people have partners or associates rather than bosses or supervisors. Their income depends on the quality, originality, cleverness and speed with which they can solve, identify or broker a new problem. Time worked or quantity produced is not the measure of their worth. Their career paths are hectic and depend on their performance. Thus they are subject to tremendous ups and downs.
Symbolic-analytic service workers typically have achieved the highest education and are in a continuous learning mode. These symbolic-analytic service workers, says Reich, add the greatest value to the regional and national economy. Consequently, having more and better knowledge workers should be the goal of our educational system. The point is that in any way possible, this valuable group should be grown and nurtured.
Just to round out the numbers, the remaining 25 percent of workers include governmental employees, public school teachers, governmental-supported workers such as physicians who are mostly dependent on Medicare and Med-icaid, along with employees in regulated industries like utility workers.
A declining national status
The numbers of “United States vs. Other Nations,” according to Solutions through Higher Education, aren’t pretty. We are:
■ 21st in high school completion
■ 15th in college completion
■ 24th in mathematics
■ 21st in science
■ 15th in reading
■ 16th in natural science and engineering degrees
■ 16th in high tech export/import ratio The sad truth is that America has sunk to 18th among the 36 industrialized nations. A typical 5-year-old in America currently can expect almost four years of education less than 5-year-olds in Australia or the United Kingdom. And that’s significant. According to the recent book “Presimetrics: How Democratic and Republican Administrations Measure Up on the Issues We Care About,” the long-term effect on economic output of one additional year of education generally lies between 3 percent and 6 percent.
According to the Florida Children’s Movement statistics, one third of preschool children are not ready to enter kindergarten; 30 percent of third-graders are not reading up to grade level and 61 percent of 10th-graders are also not up to grade level.
Graduation rates at all levels are slipping in America as others in the world are rising.
Watch “Two Million Minutes”, which compares six accomplished male and female high school students, two each from America, India and China. You’ll see how developing students spend their four high school years, which ultimately helps determine not only their own futures but the future of their countries in a global economy. This short video trailer is frightening.
Another recent report shared by Florida TaxWatch declares our state will need 100,000 more science and technology professionals than we are on track to produce during the next five years with competence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Currently our state’s institutions of higher education produce only 9,700 bachelor’s degrees with STEM each year.
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