Editor's Note: Learn more about the future of education with the special edition of GPS, Restoring the American Dream: Fixing Education.
By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
I've been thinking about Occupy Wall Street, which is now occupying a number of other cities in America. What is it really about? The protesters don't like bank bailouts; they feel the 99% have been hard done-by and they're protesting what they see as unprecedented inequality. But America has always had more inequality than many countries.
I think underlying their sense of frustration is despair over a very un-American state of affairs: A loss of social mobility. Americans have so far put up with inequality because they felt they could change their own status. They didn't mind others being rich, as long as they had a path to move up as well. The American Dream is all about social mobility - the sense that anyone can make it.
TIME magazine's Rana Foroohar has a great cover story this week that highlights that social mobility in American is declining. She points out that if you were born in 1970 in the bottom one-fifth of our socio-economic spectrum, you had only a 17% chance of making it into the upper two-fifths. Data show that its much easier to climb the socio-economic ladder in many parts of Europe. Rana points out that while nearly half of American men with fathers in the bottom fifth of the earning curve remain there, only a quarter of Danes and Swedes and only 30% of Britons do. The American dream seems to be thriving in Europe more than it is here at home.
What happened and what can we do?
There are a number of reasons why we find ourselves in this predicament - but the most important of them is how much we have lagged behind on education. No other factor is as closely linked to upward mobility. Education is the engine of mobility. And for all its current troubles, many countries in Europe - especially in northern Europe - have done a much better job providing high quality public education, particularly for those who are not rich or upper middle class.
We talk a lot about the genius of Steve Jobs these days, and justifiably, because he was a genius. But he also grew up in an environment that helped. He graduated from high school in 1972 at a time when the California public school system was ranked first in the country and American public education was the envy of the world. The public school he went to in Cupertino was high quality, with excellent programs in science as well as the liberal arts. Today, California's public schools are a disaster, and the state spends twice as much on prisons as it does on education.
So how do we fix our education system? Watch my GPS special tonight. It's called "Restoring the American Dream: Fixing Education" and it airs at 8pm and 11pm Eastern.
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Was my post removed because I wrote that EU countries with large recent immigration are facing more education problems than those with more stable societies? ... that when Steve Job was in High School in 1972, California schools were not faced with as many other needs related to the large immigrant population so spending was available for teaching not a number of related social services. These are facts as are the statistics given by Fareed. In French we say "this may explain that".
I am not against immigration but it is a factor that must be considered because it does impact what schools can do and get done.
To improve our schools there are many aspects that must be addresed.
Well said!
I know, we do have problems with young immigrants who have problems at school, that they don't benefit from the free education. Unfortunately, there's a ghettoisation as well. In well-to-do areas, children learn better than those from immigrants' background.
j. von hettlingen
People embrace a variety of assumptions – many of them based on deficient analysis or perhaps preconceived ideas.
It is certainly true that immigrants often do not perform well in K-12 school. Often the jump-to-conclusions crowd assumes the default explanation is "discrimination."
Of course, that exists – yet the picture is much more complicated. For example, when parents are non-english speakers, inevitably the child's academic performance is impaired. To illustrate, if a kid is struggling with Intro to Algebra and has a problem understanding how to solve simultaneous equations - if mom and dad cannot read the textbook, the bromide about "getting parents involved in education" falls by the wayside.
So does the student's school average.
You know, Adam, I am an immigrant. My parents do not speak English, or very little of it. Somehow I am in advanced classes and outperform my fellow American classmates. I get over 98% percentile on standardized tests. It's true that most immigrant students are impaired when learning, but it's also the school's fault, not just the parents. If we were to blame the parents, then we would have to also blame the Caucasian parents too.
Coming from a Muslim who hates America. All people have to do is listen to your irrational viewpoints. No these people are are feeding off what the Democrats have brainwashed them. That if someone has earned money they haven't deserved it... and these people want everything paid for by the "rich"... even though someone who is has saved a million is not necessarily rich anymore. But if you make more the $250,000 lets tax the crap out of them... why because people are jealous and that is what the liberals have feed them... blame let's blame the liberal ideology.
What a bunch of B.S. zakaria. You're just an opportunist fanning the flames for your own journalistic and political gain. You sure managed to prosper in this country, you freakin hypocrite !!!
I think Fareed has missed the point.....many, many of the OWS people are ardent socialists. The lack of upward mobility is closely intertwined with socialism, especially the way OWS people and to some extent Obama see it. To them/him it is not about equal opportunity so much as it is equal outcome. Wealth redistribution is about marginal upward mobility for the disadvantaged (or unmotivated) while for those with drive their chances of great success are blunted. America has always been a place where you could make it big, and Mr. Obama really doesn't like that, and wants to boost certain groups that chronically cannot get ahead because of a failure of their own intelligentsia.
I think this CNN post misses some glaringly obvious concerns. First, the social mobility of the US is exactly why we continue to have a flow of immigration–unless the NEW reason is "Come to the US and they will blindly take care of us." If that is so then, social mobilty is thrown out the door as a dream anyway. Second, to compare US social mobility with the current European experience is nothing short of empty hatism toward the US. Europe is at the brink of finanical/social collapse and we make this statement? Utter blindness! Third, mobility in America is the result of hard work, not privilege. Whether CNN and any of its writers believe it or not, anyone can work hard and improve where they are right now. To keep this grand dream, why not support the growth of small business, the backbone of American prosperity? Occupy Wallstreet or anystreet, is built on the fallacy that government is better than business. Anybody remember who was on the other side of WW II? Yep, it was centralized government that promised Germany a new socialist eutopia. It was a lie then, it's a lie now. The US cannot prosper without supporting incubation of business.
Guys, there is a lot of talk about Obama in these messages, and the 'liberal media.' I think those posts have completely failed to see the point: our schools suck, our policy is backwards (especially with jails), and we are absolutely, positively letting a generation fall by the wayside. I don't know what it takes to get us off our fat asses, but that is absolutely what we have to do, and maybe Zakaria is helping on this matter. Talking about Obama (like the prez can do anything with legislation) and saying that he or one party is the problem, is moving backwards.
I attended public school in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970's & 80's. Although the Latino population was not significant, the Asian population was booming – Hong Kong, Philippines, and China. To claim that there was no immigrant (i.e. English learning) populations in the Bay Area schools at the time of Steve Jobs is disingenuous at best.
TO: Abolish Religion...
You stated, " we are ALL either immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Study some history."
Actually, you're the one who needs a stiff brush-up on U.S. history. Native Americans are neither immigrants nor descedants of immigrants.
And for you to imply that today's immigrants are as smart, or study as hard, as Asian immigrants in the 70's and 80's just proves why CA has their head in the sand.
But the Asians study harder – a fact that many conveniently forget just to be politically correct. There is a reason why Asian Americans do not qualify as minority when it comes to education.
Yes, but there is a DIFFERENCE between Asian immigration and Hispanic immigration! Asians have higher IQs and higher test scores than Hispanics. They also have lower crime rates and less teenage pregnancies than Hispanics. Thus, the California High Schools of today (many of which are MAJORITY Hispanic) are far different than the California High Schools of Steve Job's day (which were majority white with a smattering of Asians.)
Should students in America:
- have to attend middle school classes with 60+ students per classroom?
- have to learn subjects other than Spanish in Spanish?
- attend elementary schools where the student body is 90% immigrant?
Is it diversity if the 90% all come from Central America and the Caribbean?
What happens if an Asian child belongs to that school? Should we bus him to another school?
Is it immigrants that ruin the school system or is it the rate of change? Is allowing a massive influx of immigrants
as manageable as a modest amount of regulated immigration?
And finally were Steve Jobs parents part of a unregulated influx of Jewish immigrants and did they bypass
the process?
These are not idle questions but in fact are representative of my experience in Miami.
When I attended first grade I only spoke Spanish and found my early school years quite difficult.
Luckily immigration was quite modest then and my first, second and third grade teachers were able to cope.
I can tell you my sons have not been so fortunate and have had to deal with issues caused by uncontrolled
immigration and that cannot be discussed in this forum.
@Ram: Actually, "native" americans also migrated from Asia. You need to brush up on your plate tectonics.
The "Native Americans" certainly got here much before European and other immigrants. Maybe 12,000 years ago - need to check that - and in multiple waves. No human subgroup orinated in the Americas. We are ALL immigrants.
This is exactly the problem with America these days. Now the entire nation is having a problem because of immigration. Are the illegal immigrants in charge of this country? Are they writing the laws that rule this nation? Did the illegal immigrants decide to go to war in Iraq and spend 700 billiion dollars on this war? Is it because of illegal immigration that wallstreet collapsed a couple of years ago? Lets get serious and start looking in the mirror before we blame somebody else. Sure there is a problem with illegal immigration and something must be done about it. But to blame our problems on illegal immigratioin its ridiculous. we have plenty of money right now. but its not the middle class that is sitting on cash. its big corporations that are sitting on 3 trillion dollars of cash and about 2% of americans that have more than a large percentage of us. So are we really identifying the root cause of our problems? or we just like to blame illegal immigration for everything?
It's funny to know that Steve Jobs is the biological son of an immigrant.
Here's a newsflash: we are ALL either immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Study some history.
you should have known.
Well that was a stupid comment
Insofar as Steve Jobs being the son of an immigrant, it is an irrelevant matter.
His father was an absentee father who virtually abandon Jobs at birth.
Most of the American population have immigrant ties to other countries. One of the problems with our educational system are those who are in charge of policy. It has long been known that other countries, particularly poorer countries, do an excellent job educating their students by using the very basic teaching methods. We believe, here in America, that it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to build state-of-the-art schools and sometimes unnecessary equipment. Learning occurs in a classroom with a teacher who is teaching. Most people, particularly our educators, knew that the "No child left behind" policy was a joke. Yet, those educators went along with it because it was politically correct. The public school systems have turned into correctional facilities in many places and children are not being challenged or taught. Instead, we are consumed with money, budgets, the school's concern about their overall scores to keep accreditations, and paying top educators a salary for doing much of nothing. Increasing the teachers pay and reducing the salary of administrators seems appropriate, along with "real" standards for competency.
So your all squabbling over who got here first when the article was about education? that says a lot
In reality, Steve Jobs is like Obama–the father may have been an immigrant, but had NOTHING to do with raising his son–didn't even know he existed. My son is the same. So while you may want to attribute his success to an immigrant father, it was his domestic mother, or Jobs case, his adoptive parents who raised him.
If steve jobs was born to the same parents in most islamic societies/countries in our todays world, he would land by the trash can by the road side. It is only in USA that that child, later named steve jobs received a home, parents, love and an education that made him what he became. God bless the United States of America.
California is in trouble because the hedonistic state government spent like there was no tomorrow, and then - surprise - tomorrow was today. Don't blame it on the immigrants. They are just an easy target. Take a look at CA's prison budget. California imprisons anyone who looks cross-eyed (and who is Black, Mexican and Asian).
Then why do the poor oppressed blacks, asians and mexicans stay in Ca.?
what stop your propaganda the illegals commit a ton of crimes, add to the gang population and draining our resources. Come on we are not stupid.
Sooo... is everyone saying that we should... secure the border, reduce spending (probably military), increase education spending, and lose some social services such as medicare and medicaid?
As long as immigrants pay taxes. Your understanding is wrong.
Of course most of them don't pay taxes, and the ones who do usually draw more out of the system than they put back into it.
Visit LetsGetTheFactsStraight.com
That site is total propaganda. Credit unions serve the public far more than any banks do (they're non-profit, after all).
That site an god awful. It looks like the it was written by the president of B of A. Or maybe one of their lobbying groups.
Your argument is mathematically illiterate. Even accounting for immigration, it does not begin to make a serious dent into the difference in upward mobility between the US and other nations.
If you believe the American Dream is dead...
It is a very that is lip-syned by many – but is both provably wrong and hopelessly flawed.
If you have traveled abroad, you know that people stand in long lines at our embassies and consulates around the world to try to get a permanent visa to come here. They do not do so to go to Peru, Indonesia, Finland, Angola, or the Ukraine – or for that matter industrialized Europe.
This happens O-N-L-Y here.
We even have a name for it, The American Dream, where we do not promise happiness - but the pursuit of happiness. Despite all of our country's shortcomings people want to come to this wonderful place we call home.
Of course, cynicism like still waters, runs deep, despite the evidence. The best-seller "The Millionaire Next Door" noted that 75% of the millionaires in America (net worth >$1MM) are first or second generation Americans.
Think about that...
From our earliest days as a country, we were and still are an immigrant nation where people learn self-reliance, and a key American value of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.
Of course, quite often, the views and shrill shouts from the Blame America first crowd tend to be dismissive and fact blind to these realities.
Ram, do you sincerely believe that nobody wants to immigrate to any country besides the USA? Are you really ignorant of the awful immigration-related social problems many European countries are dealing with at this very moment? Are you unaware that increasing numbers of highly-educated Americans are emigrating to other parts of the world where they have better opportunities? Or are you a complete hypocrite? Do tell.
I'm an American currently living in Canada, and have found it in many, many ways far more pleasant.
Except for the liquor prices.
I am an American. My family came from Italy in the 1920's and we settled in the Midwest. They had the hope and dream to work for several years as laborers earning their tickets here, hoping for a good life. Sadly, they were wrong. Their children had a good life, and their children's children (my mom) had an ok life. Me, my life is awful. Lots of debts to try to get out of poverty. Lot's of stress that will shorten my life by 10-20 years easily. As an American, I can't wait til the day I pay off my loans and debts and leave. I hate this place and all it stands for, and let me tell you I am not the only one who feels this way. I know literally hundreds of others who are leaving to go elsewhere. To be quite honest, America is not worth it for many of us.
It's important to make a distinction between immigrants and illegal aliens.
Sally is exactly right. And the irony is that our very real declining social mobility has a lot more to do with the principles and priorities of the OWS types - self-indulgence, do your own thing, nanny state mentality, et al - than with anything Wall Street has done. The day we return to personal responsibility and move away from depending on the state is the day we start to rebuild our country.
You know I read this type of comment a lot, but I've never actually heard or seen anyone from the OWS protests saying anything akin to the ideas you attribute to them.
When are they saying they don't care about personal responsibility, or want a nanny state? To me it seems that they're complaining about brokers getting to socialize losses while eating profits, or CEO's looting corporate pension funds and boosting their own golden parachutes at the expense of the general workers.
The fact that worker productivity has been increasing over the last 30 years, but worker compensation has not, is a lot more what they're complaining about than 'the state won't coddle us'. You are painting a strawman of the protests that I don't believe you can support. I mean, is it the workers fault that they're not being paid more for working more?
To Andrew: Maybe I did not get my point across. So let's 1-Assume higher teacher pay attracts better quality teacher candidates. 2-Take note that teachers typically start work in their early 20s and retire in their early 60s. A work life of 40 years. Therefore to bring the total teaching staff up to the new "higher quality levels" would take 40 years, the time to replace all the teachers now in the workplace. It also leaves us with some loose ends. How does raising the pay of the existing staff of "average teachers" make them better teachers? Also the above does not take into account that higher pay atrracts all types looking for the money, not just "Better teachers." Some of the worst instructors I have had were PhDs and no doubt had great college grades.
If your so worried about a nanny state, then what are you doing from preventing billions of corporate loses being applied to public tax dollars. That is nothing new, and yet people like you continue to ignore it. Not even talking about the recent trillions in bank bailouts.. it's been happening en-mass for years now. In 2000, the US government spent billions bailing out tyson foods when they shipped billions of pounds of chicken to russia, and let it rot in a port. Yet you would rather focus on the so called probabilistic protesters, who have neither little wealth, no very little effect on the raising us tax obligation.
It's ironic that you fear a nanny stats, while doing everything you can to ignore the biggest player in the nanny state, being corporate power.
So, what you are saying is: decrease well-fare type spending, increase education spending and eventually the need for well-fare type spending will decrease as well?
I think i could definitely agree with that
Wait, why decrease welfare spending while there's still a need for welfare spending? That's still kinda a big sc-ew you to the poor, especially in this economy when they already control such an absurdly small slice of pie.
Lets start by cutting military spending, put that to education and scientific research, and then with a more educated population with more job opportunities we'll be able to cut back on welfare programs.
Cutting military spending is not wise. The military makes more out of "poor people" than most public educational systems. Ever heard of TA or the GI bill? AND we have gotten ourselves into a position where if we don't keep our defense up we WILL be attacked again. Debate all you want, but we can't just back out of the mess we have gotten ourselves into and not expect another punch. If you cut the military in 1/2 (like what's being planned) that's more jobless people in a weak private sector & more strain on welfare. Keep the foodstamp program in place, don't let people starve. Cut everything else and let them live the real American dream and let them build their own foundation. But of course, that would require less Government regulation. Like that's going to happen.
Andrew and others -
The blanket prescription is a worthy idea for consideration and long supported by both some parents and nearly all teacher unions.
The problem is that the premise about more money equally improved education is provably wrong. If you look at the evidence instead of false bromides, you find out that there is frequently almost no correlation between dollars spent per pupil and educational excellence.
In fact, analysis of most large school districts is most informative. If one examines the dollars spent per pupil in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Chicago, L.A., etc - it is literally true that the line on the graph cross. In English that means – quite literally the more money that is spent on education --- student performance indices plummet.
The only way we can cut military spending is to cut all ties with Isreal and make friends with the muslims. But then you would be accused of anti-Semitism. So I guess there won't be any cut in military spending.
How does paying more for education make it better? Some say we will recruit "higher quality" candidates to teaching. If that was the intent then we would have to replace existing "lower quality" teachers with the "higher quality" ones. Instead we pay the existing teachers more. How does paying them more make them better?
Ram, as a physics student set to graduate, part of the problem I see is that teachers simply don't get paid enough to attract people with real skills in rather important subjects. I'd consider teaching if it was a well paying job, but considering how I stand to make vastly more going into other fields besides teaching, it'd seem silly for me to be a teacher.
More than half of all high school math teachers in the US have never taken beyond first year college calc. And yet professors are confused when students come into class these days having almost no rigorous understanding of math. It's because the teachers generally have about as much understanding of the subject as the students themselves.
Money in education can be very poorly spent, and a lot of it goes to flashy technology and new classrooms, but the actual salary of a teacher is still rather low. People with credentials are not likely to become teachers if they stand to make vastly more money going into industry, so the only people we have teaching are generally those that are least qualified to teach.
So while just throwing money at the problem wouldn't necessarily help, having it so teachers can make 6 figure salaries would at least help attract more qualified college graduates to teach. A teacher who understands partial differential equations is likely going to be vastly more equipped to prepare students for real world mathematics than teachers who have only taken intro to calc, and the ones who have only taken introductory course would have little real world understanding of the math to interest students in the first place.
"How will knowing trigonometric ident-ties help me?"
"Well, it'll help you do calculus"
"What would I ever use calculus for?"
That answer better be more satisfying than just "more math". But usually, that's the only answer teachers can give, because they've never used math to actually DO anything. They've taught it, but having had only the bare essentials in college themselves, they've never really gained a full understanding for the power and wide scale applicability of mathematics. The students who do have a real world understanding, well, they can make a fortune by not teaching, so why the he-l would they teach?
Nelba, how do you expect to recruit higher quality teachers if they aren't paid better? How do you expect to recruit teachers who have skills that stand to give them VASTLY better paying jobs if they're not given a financial incentive?
I have no problem dropping 'bad teachers', but you better do that while simultaneously hiring 'good ones' with incredible pay raises. You can't simply fire the bad teachers, then have even fewer teachers for students, and still have mostly under-qualified staff. Are we supposed to fire half of the math teachers in the country without anyone to replace them?
Andrew, while it appears that military spending does not positively impact education, that is actually not the case at all. The military affords many people a level of education that would have been completely out of their reach otherwise. My parents couldn't afford to pay for my college education. I worked my tail off in public high school, graduated first in my class, got good SAT scores and got accepted at one of the best universities in the country. I paid for school with an ROTC scholarship. I paid back my schooling costs to the Air Force through my service. The funding for my schooling was part of the defense budget. Whether there should be similar programs for graduates that don't involve the military is up for discussion, but the line between education and defense isn't so clear....just ask anyone who grew up in extremely rural America or in a ghetto and then joined the military how much they learned from their military experience.
My comment ended in the wrong place. To Andrew: Maybe I did not get my point across. So let's 1-Assume higher teacher pay attracts better quality teacher candidates. 2-Take note that teachers typically start work in their early 20s and retire in their early 60s. A work life of 40 years. Therefore to bring the total teaching staff up to the new "higher quality levels" would take 40 years, the time to replace all the teachers now in the workplace. It also leaves us with some loose ends. How does raising the pay of the existing staff of "average teachers" make them better teachers? Also the above does not take into account that higher pay atrracts all types looking for the money, not just "Better teachers." Some of the worst instructors I have had were PhDs and no doubt had great college grades.
It's not about immigration per se. It's about trying to study in a classroom full of screeching chimps.
That was a disgusting comparison, Lawrence. That's makes me, a teacher, the main gorilla?
http://rivera-politicalmuse.blogspot.com/2011/11/keep-going-dont-despair.html
You are right Sally, immigration of poorly educated people affects the quality of education. I know that first hand since I work as a teacher in high school. Half my students (90% Hispanics) do not read at the high school level since their home language is Spanish. When I call my sister in Switzerland, arguably one of the best educational systems in the world, she tells me that heavy immigration from Africa has taken its toll on the quality of education. Please read my article at
http://rivera-politicalmuse.blogspot.com/2011/11/keep-going-dont-despair.html
on education and how we can fix it. With what we spend in Iraq we could have modern schools with modern tools such as iPad and co. Let's work on it next year when we end that war. We can educate anybody but we need to reform the system that hasn't changed in the last 50 years.
Appears Sally should replace Fareed, since unlike Fareed, shes unafraid to tell the truth...
Yes, I thought when this whole discussion started Fareed would conveniently overlook the disastrous effects of runaway immigration.
so, just because you are french you don't count as an immigrant? only people of color do?
Danes, Swedes, and Brits all have immigration issues just like we do, and they are still doing better by every single measure. Don't blame the immigrants. The real problem is a prolonged and intense effort by many of the wealthy to buy politicians who will return us to the feudal system. Vote as liberal as you can if you love the American dream.
Honestly?
It's not just immigrants, I have met so many parents in my time (my daughter is in final year of med school) that could not even read at all (oddly, all of them have been republicans) that I it is no wonder our nation is in the shape it is in. I had my daughter (Native American) reading at high school level at 6 years old. Smart parents, smart kids, dumb parents, dumb kids.
With a name like "loathes the right", I am really surprised at your comment that all illiterate people you have met are republicans. What a coincidence! Perhaps you loathe people who cannot read?
PS....it is spelled "Loathes" – not "loaths"
I guess your republican acquaintances are not the only ones who have basic educational deficiencies. Hope your daughter is doing well in medical school, and that your "smart parent" gene is recessive.
Once again, Fareed Zakaria's analysis is dead wrong.
Lack of education is the reason for our decline in social mobility? Nonsense! We have far more college educated people today than we did in the 1950's when social mobility was BOOMING. The lack of social mobility today is due to 1) shipping our jobs overseas while 2) simultaneously importing more workers who 3) are more prone to crime and are more dependent on government social services.
But you will NEVER hear Fareed Zakaria talk about THAT.
The "upward mobility" argumnet is a bunch of liberal garbage. I joined the Navy as a young man, learned a skill and have had work ever since. i also achieved a 2 yr degree. The honorable discharge and service to my country is just something for most liberals to wipe their a$$ on. I get that. That is how we elect obama, Reid, and pelosi. People dont care about honor, service or committment. They just want everythin handed to them on a silver tray witout having to do anything for themselves. Typical liberal agenda. Garbage spewed by people who arent fit to carry out the garbage.
The jobs are sent overseas because just like Fareed said in his special tonight...the American worker demands a wage higher than the overseas worker, yet their skills and education are the same and/lower. We either improve our education system and get smarter or we take a pay cut.
Well, immigrants are the most socially mobile bunch – upwards! – in California. Once they have that Google, Berkeley or (now) Facebook job, they contribute to Californian business. All this time they are paying the state taxes as well... so how is immigration the problem for education/education funding in California?
I'm with ya! Does anyone take note of how much of school dollars are spent on English As A Second Language programs sacrificing dollars that could be spent on math and science programs?????? Hello, do the math – if you know how!
The problem is very simple to fix, but the big media and the 1% wants us to perceive something else. What we need to do is to make lobbying illegal. This is the main problem! Keep corporate and special interest money out of our Government! Once this is done, everything will fall in its place.
You should remember that before the governorship of Ronald Reagan the State of California contributed 50% of the local school budget. But Ronnie deemed it excessive, cut it in half and gave the money to the rich in form of tax cuts. The states' contribution has been going down and the Anglos (Ronnie and bunch) blame everything on the illegals. This country was built by slave labor. Black slaves in the South, Chinese railroad workers, East European copper miners, Mexican farm labor. Back-breaking hard work for peanuts. These people contribute to the economy, Wall Street thugs (Soros and cohorts) just redistibute the wealth – mostly into their own pockets.
Umm.... you obviously don't read very much. The family of Steve Jobs was well off, which plays to the main point here of the lack of SOCIAL MOBILITY.
Steve Jobs went to a great school as well... which also illustrates the main point of the Zakaria.
Please tell me.... WHAT WAS THE POINT OF YOUR COMMENT?!
And to add to that... let's send 20 million illegals back. They have lowered the pay scale and taken jobs from Americans. Tell me that if you send them back and stop sending out 99 weeks of checks to unemployment that people won't take a job cleaning hotel rooms? Obviously they will... Send them back and stop handing out checks. It has been proven here as well as other countries as long as you keep handing out free checks that they will keep accepting them.
So the reason that American public education is failing is because there are so many immigrants? Wrong. Public education is failing primarily because it is underfunded, as the author notes in the case of California. In CA, we spend more on prisons than our education system, and as a nation, we spend more on war than on education. Step back and look at the big picture, and don't blame immigrants for our problems.
What kind of a President doesnt condemn violence and rioting?
Fix Education, tax the rich. Restore social mobility, with a Living Wage Law and mandatory profit sharing. Restore the American for ALL AMERICANS!
http://polymontana. com/2011/10/07/hb-1505-is-the-greatest-federal-land-grab-in-history-part-1/
backspace the dot and com
Immigrant G. Bush screwed up this country by 4 Trillion!
We might also include in there the expansion of schools in the sports area ... Everyone has to play a sport ... And the socialial issues .. We must all love one another and it doesn't matter what you do it's all good .... READING, WRITING and ARITHMATIC are what need to be stressed in school. Lying to kids by telling them they can major in the art of Egyptian handwriting and find a job after college needs to stop.
I think all immigration should be ended.. We have too many people and not enough of anything else.
Education is worthless in solving this problem. The problem is not a lack of education, but a lack of opportunity caused by outsourcing. No one is going to pay 60k+ for an american engineer when they can get an indian for $7k.
Steve jobs was a college dropout, fyi – and education played little role in his success.
dun not just waiting the society to create job upon graduation, in contrary those graduated in the 70s, is the one whom created job for its community.
This isn't a reply. These are some general comments w/o reading the 600 entries of others. Tthank heavens you got to the point that 40 years ago when I started teaching the education profession attracted bright, capable women. Today why should those near the top of the class choose the profession? Everyone is talking about the "huge" salaries public school teachers make-are you kidding?! In Texas with 40 years and a Ph.D. a teacher makes around $75,000. You don't have to worry about younger teachers not having enough openings because older teachers are protected by tenure and stay. First of all this is Texas-can you define "tenure" or "collective bargaining" it is not in the vocabulary in this part of the country? Then young teachers see the amount of hours required to do well in a classroom and they don't stay–and it is not all about pay. It is one more meeting, one more consultant with the latest idea that the District paid to hear, one more statement of disrespect from the community. So...students learn the material or they don't advance. Can we live with 16 year olds in middle school? Sure KIPP works with under-privileged kids-they have a huge turnover of teachers which means the cost of new training constantly. More importantly, students measure up or get asked to go back to the public school. We have some new techniques-online learning. It can be done by public school teachers or what is happening now–the for-profit companies are just concerned with making money off of it. And how do you get high schoolers to stay committed and complete the course? I love teaching, love learning, push for higher level, critical thinking skills. I have served this profession for over forty years, but I don't see the answers to reach the changing demographics. However, the answers will come from those in the profession and not from businessmen such as some interviewed in the show.
I don't know why you bother even trying Fareed. The problem is bigger than you. By stating that 'the American dream is thriving in Europe' you highlight the problem. Ignorance. Who thought the American dream was anything other than a construct to engender patriotism and tolerance of inequality and an extractive society? Who thought it was proprietary? Who knew Europe has better social mobility? Who knows that many parts of the world exceed the US on many measures? Who cares? Not many. Though ignorance may be tackled through education it is embedded in the culture and will take a couple of generations to address even if you start now. Why even bother.
To solve the problem-move to Europe! Done.
we'll have to give them a plane ticket and have someboby meet them and hold their hand.OOPS thet're to stupid to learn a second language.
I'd happily move to Europe but I can't do so legally.
There is some extremely antiquated thinking. you need to move frward and realize how dire things are. Please try to let go of your biases and reallt think about real solutions. Not just emotional reactions and totally illogical solutions...really think about it and disprove the author by using that education he is talikng about...otherwise you are making his point that we are totally uneducated on in depth issues in our country and the world
Typical selfish right-winger – you conceive of the problem as a personal problem instead of a social one that makes it more urgent to address.
Darth, Society is made up by large groups of individuals. We are becoming a country where every man becomes a burden on his neighbor. The "American dream" origianally was about working hard and making something out of the land you lived on. It involved individual risks, triumphs, and disasters. Now people are screaming for a false sense of security built on the backs of other people's work. The problems always start with individuals. They always head with individuals en mass.
The thing is that many of us love America and still believe in her. We want to see the American dream come true. You can go elsewhere if you'd rather; we'd only go if we had to. Save America & vote liberal.
Because its better to try to fix a problem than let it build up and explode. Yeah, why bother when you'll inevitably be dead and gone? Really?
Don't you just love the way people don't care what happens to the next generation? It seems a lot of us don't care what kind of world we leave behind for our kids. Pretty sad.
Because you can't get somewhere if you never take the first step. That's why.
"Why bother?" Because they're our future, genius.
One big factor missing is parental involvement. It is proven to improve children's learning and chances in life. What's wrong with developing a rotating roster of Parents' Days at each school and making them come in and observe once a month? Of course, you can't enforce such a thing, but throwing it into the parents' court is at least trying to get them more involved.
That is complete non-sense. In all the developed countries with high standard of education no parents are allowed in classroom. It's ridiculous. Parent have enough on their plates with homework and class projects, they don't need the pressure to become involved in the classrooms. My opinion is that all the class moms and their silly class parties should just go to hell! They are unnecessary distractions along with other crap like fundraisers that lead to kids not spending enough time on learning but doing other non-academic crap. I have never seen anything like it! I am Czech, got my elementary and high school education in Czech, now I live in America, have two kids here and I am constantly shocked and blown away at the amount of distractions that goes on in the public school system. Not to mention the bewildering amount of loose papers and fliers that the kids bring home on daily basis. Completely disorganized and confusing way to learn. I feel bad for the kids as well as the teachers. School system is a complete joke in this country. I got my bachelor degree in US, went on to become a dentist here in the US. I paid exorbitant amount of money for my education here. It took me 8 years to get these 2 degrees, in Europe this is done in half the time. Classes here were a complete joke. I feel they were just dragging it all out to get as much out of you in tuition as possible. Ridiculous.
This is to Martina: I just got my last kid into college, and I know what you mean about all the fundraisers and non-academic activities. College tuition has been raised so high that there is a real scramble for scholarships and grants, it isn't enough anymore to just be a bright kid. You have to "do" things outside the classroom (sports, community service, clubs, youth groups), and you have to BE things (class officer, captain of your team, tutor) in addition to having good grades to be considered for scholarships and money or even acceptance into college. It's not just private colleges with high standards any more, our state universities have received record numbers of applications, so that even the smallest state U can turn students away. This is not how I remember school, either.
The American Dream WAS more than a "construct." I grew up in Arkansas. My father was a truck farmer with six children. We ALL went to college. There are three who have dootoral degrees, one who is a lawyer, and one was a hospital administrator. Three of us used the GI Bill. That's what we need for upward mobility–a new generous GI Bill. That would be an upward mobility escelator.
What about those who are not Vets? Just let them all live and die in pain and poverty?
The "new" Post-9/11 GI Bill is generous in its own respect.
Why did CNN remove my post here.
To summarize – CALGARY SANDY- Anyone can enlist, rich and poor alike. My cousin earned PHD and Md on GI Bill after serving, clinicals done on military bases.
Your argument is lame. Some just don't have the go -nads to enlist, won't serve their country, but want their country to give them free education, free everything. Mostly Dems like you don't appreciate the words and example of democratic presidents, especially JKF.
They can also join the Peace Corps. There are no excuses these days.
If an American is not a vet there is a simple solution to that, serve.
There is a new generous gi bill.
George Jr. Screwed up the future of our kids!
George Jr & Dick the pacemaker guy Screwed up the future of our kids!
If that is your opinion, you should not bother. But then, why bother to post statements of pessimism to people who, by your estimation, are not educated or motivated enough to do anything about the problem. Go back to your TV, entertain yourself, and wait for the society around you to crumble. Personally, I think just the opposite. I think we have been incredibly successful in the past, as history clearly demonstrates. All of the elements for success are still present. We need to make changes ranging from small adjustments to very large structural changes. All that is required is the will to do so. All that is required to fail or to make no progress is to settle for letting things erode further. I don't believe we will do that. You apparently do. Time will tell who is right.
Fareed is just trying to pump up the liberal mainstream in trying to convey that Europe is the way to go. And liberals are like lost sheep, so they believe him. I can't figure out why he doesn't live there.
I spent a week with a community of people from India (forced out of Pakistan as children by Muslims) who have very successfully adopted the US as their new home. Great people, and very prosperous in spite of the fact they arrived here with almost nothing. I will always cherish our friendship.
The American dream is not dead. It has been forgotten by a generation of Americans used to being rewarded for making no effort.
What a crock of expired baloney! Europe is being DESTROYED by the horded of muslim refugees who are raping and pillaging and trying to force their sharia 'laws' on the European citizens, who now have to lock their doors and protect themselves against these barbaric peoples. Don't make statements that things are 'wonderful' in EU when SWEDES have the world's highest rate of suicide and all EU peoples are SUBJECTS not CITIZENS, who do not even know or understand the concept of home ownership and that any human being can start out as a poor person and end up president. Look at obozzo, he's living proof that you can be the spawn of a trollop and not even born in the USA (hawai'ians know the truth and I am one) and end up 'president'. It's a quandry, the president hates this country, loves men not women, and is a puppet of George Soros and his ilk and yet we are happy that a fool COULD be elected, but not happy that someone like Soros is attempting to control us by turning us into europeans incapable of individual thought or action. Thank God for 2012, we won't make THAT mistake again. Don't rule out the USA, we aren't done yet. AND China is a long way behind us, no matter what you America haters may hope.
Muslims are barbaric and you have to close your doors because of them ?
Indeed, they are not civilized enough to have invaded with million dollar F16s, Drones, and missiles raining them onto your homes with your chidren in them, invading and occupying and bombing homes and buildings with state of the art technological killing machines imported to foreign lands thousands miles away............. those barbarians !
Mobility in Europe? In England there are about a half million guest workers from Poland. Other countries don't lag much behind. Hungary is inundated with "immigrants' from Romania and the Balkan. The meek is inheriting the world.
Fareed Zakaria is just creepy looking. He brings up some good topics but he looks too much like Gallaxhar from Monsters vs. Aliens. Does he ever blink?
your funny looking
You can't spell "you're".
Aren't all democrats?
I hope you are also looking at Finland as an example of a good education system. They have thrown out the idea of "testing" and spend more time on good training of teachers on how to engage their students. Maybe this would be a better approach, rather than the premise that teachers are not to be trusted.
We should learn from Finland.
Yes, I have observed education in Finland first hand. It's free, and yes, they have high taxes, but wonderful social policies.
agree
the wall street kids are hopeless kids,they wasted their life taking the easiest ways to get by.Go to Finland? run from your own incompetance,thats worked so far.
What about the vets and unions that support the protest?
I have aalways thought testing was a false measureent of knowledge. American education would be wise to throw out
the testing system, too. But education is middle class. The mediocre middle class DO NOT THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. Effective eduction requires such thinking. Teachers who are trained traditionally, but are CHALLENGED TO BE CREATIVE IN TEACHING METHODOLOGY, bring a larger bag of teaching skills to the class room. They are able to
ENGAGE their STUDENTS. That this would become the norm in American education is doubtful. UNION CONTRACTS would not permit members to work above and beyond what the contract calls for.. Get rid of unions.
No, the unions help protect teachers so they can spend their time teaching.
When I taught at a school with a strong union that school did not make uneccessary demands on my time for extra duties without pay or mountains of paperwork. I had the time and ecouragement to be creative and innovative in how I taught my students, and I had very good results. I now work in a school with a very small union presence (far less than 5% of the school). I have many demands on my time for extra duty without pay, assigned extra-ciricular without pay, and mountains of paperwork. I am required to match what other teachers do, which is largely dictaed by the teachers with the most seniority who overwhelminly want to do what they have always done. I have little room for being innovative in my classroom. Unions are not the problem. Not allowing teachers to do the job they were trained for is the problem. Do you know that at the current school I work at every observation of my science teaching has been done by a former english teacher. All of my evaluations have been glowing, but really how effective do you think their evaluation is?
The rise and fall of prosperity of the lower classes mirrors exactly the rise and fall of union membership. It's not a coincidence. I for one (although never having worked in a union) believe we need them, desparately.
Its fine not to test when your population is only 5 million.. try 300 million.
There is a reason countries like China & India test early, b/c they have no time nor the resources to coddle ever precious snowflake that comes around.
I watch Fareed's show each week, and it is a must see in our household. But this statement by him is wrong and needs to be corrected: "the state [California] spends twice as much on prisons as it does on education." The truth: California spends about the same on prisons as on HIGHER education (its universities and state colleges). That is deplorable but not as bad as he indicates. California spends even more of its budget on K through 12 education, almost 4 time what it spends on prisons.
Data or reliable resource to back up your claim?
California State Budget by category: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/Enacted/agencies.html
Maybe the college graduation rate is lower because of the COST of a college education.
The reason the school year is not longer is no one wants to pay for it.
I agree, but in order to get higher education in Europe in many places it is goverment funded. In the US we are told that a degree will solve all of our problems. Once you get the degree you are promised a better job that will cover all the loans you took out and more. These days people are getting paid less because people will work for less and loans are becoming a bigger expense than rent. I think Obama's relief for student loans is a first step, but more needs to be done. The cost of education here is too high relative to what types of positions are available to pay back. Student Loans should not take longer to pay back than your mortgage.
We want equality in education, but no one wants to pay for it and even parents speak against efforts to length the school day or school year. The truth is that if we want our lower achievers to be proficient in reading and math, then slow learners need mandatory summer classes or school tutoring starting in elementary school. This is not because it is a punishment, but because if a student is a slow learner they need more time to study in order to keep pace with the expecations that will be placed on them by future prospective employers.
I think that the whole education discussion continues to miss the most important component which is the role played by parents. What would happen if parents were held accountable for their child's performance? There is a direct correlation between a child's educational performance and parental involvement yet all of these discussions or education specials never focus on the parent's role. Gates talked about the unique experiences he has provided for his children – he's involved. How many parents in failing or "inner-city" schools can say they are involved? Why isn't there an education special called – "Failing Schools – Failing Parents".
As much as I agree with you, you also have to look at the work requirements of those parents in inner city schools. Not all of them are welfare moms with plenty of time at home... many of them work two to three jobs just to pay the bills. There is NO time.
The cost of living in America has climbed steadily, the average wage has not.
To try to compare the 70's, when a parent could remain home and the household still have a quality lifestyle, to the age of 2011 when it is almost a requirement for both parents to work... well, it's unfeasible at best. Unfortunately, schools have more responsibility when it comes to the education of their students now. Not through fault of their own, and not necessarily through fault of the parents. It is simply the reality of COST these days.
I knew a single mom working two jobs. I wonder if she ever got enough sleep. Maybe 4-5 hours if she was lucky. Plus, she has two kids. It is just like you said, she has no time.
Everyone is missing the point. We in the U.S.A. are just too lazy! I have been visiting a Hispanic church. You want to witness upward mobility? These people WORK! As a result they are moving up quickly. They value family, and will provide for their children and their children's education.
All Americans are lazy? Seriously? All Mexicans are hard workers? Racist!
John I totally agree, when I had 'problems' at school my mom came to school to that exact classroom and whala – no more problems. It didn't matter if it was the teacher or me, situation seemed to solve itself. My mom Showed me that school was important and that I Would do well or else....
Let's just blame education again. I love my role as societal scapegoat. It is so convenient as it means we don't have to explore issues like childhood poverty. Middle class parents would not have to examine their own failures. For example, everyone gets a trophy and "my kid would never do that" mentality.
It occurs to me that California spends a great deal on prisons because of the crime- yet would still have an very high absolute amount of spending in education. Anyone who has been to a public school can tell you that the bottom one fifth of students are usually not the ones most enthusiastic about working out of their relative ignorance, and demands to spend more on education don't generally address this fact.
As Europe having much greater social mobility than the United States, I would point out that it's not the American political union on the brink of utter disaster. We'll see how all that mobility works out for Europe, and if people exiting the bottom fifth of a relative curve will hold much significance.
I just watched a bit of the Fareed's show leading up to his special tonight about "Fixing Education". I am incredibly insulted and upset because I haven't seen one news reporter or even our own Secretary of Education placing the focus of education in the right area...families. What has changed in the last twenty years? Families have changed, families that are unable or unwilling to support the efforts of educators. Families who do NOT insure homework is being done and that their child is behaving in school. Additionally, Fareed, do your homework when you compare the United States educationally to other countries. Most countries especially those in the top ten probably do NOT open their doors to ALL students. They educate the best of the best. The United States educates all students and there are more students than ever with serious disabilities in the classroom. Why don't you tell the real story Fareed to the American public.
No, the best tend to be European and therefore tend to respect that bit of the Geneva Conventions that says education is a human right and thus available to all. If you're a teacher, perhaps you should do YOUR homework before saying the educate only their best and brightest. Oh yeah, and I'm a product of 90's public school in America. Theoretically I should be an idiot.
Try reading the Bill of Rights. There isn't a single right listed that involves the transfer of property or services from one person to another. The second amendment says you have a right to bear arms, but it does not say you are owed a gun. We all have a right to acquire an education for ourselves, but none of us are owed the service or property of another to get one.
I've always had incredible support from my parents. They've always pushed me to do better, B's have never been acceptable, and it has paid off. I'm a Junior in college on a full academic scholarship. That said, the only time I've ever struggled in classes has been when working with lousy teachers. Unfortunately for every good teacher that I've had, I've had at least three who shouldn't be in the profession. You can't enact regulations on parenting in effectively. It's sad to say, but the only viable course of action is to expect more from educators. I've never understood why we feel the need to have small classes in public schools. By all means, switch to college style lecture halls (at least in high school where classroom problems seem to be most prevalent). Get rid of the lousy teachers and pay the good teachers 3-4 times as much to teach their classes in large lectures.
So you agree, if parents support 100% their children, they are going to excel in school even though the 75% of their teachers are inadequate...
Parents may be a big part of the problem, but unless the household is abuse what can be done about it? With reduced budgets my state is barely able to get kids out of abusive situations and into foster care. Kids have no control over who their parents are but we as educators can help kids overcome obstacles kids face at home. Schools need the funding to handle kids from less than idea households with counselors, access to basic needs (food and clothes), and after-school tutoring and other activities that provide a safe place to make these students' educational aspirations a reality.
This is a bigger problem than most people realize. You aren't going to be able to teach a child who is receiving abuse at home, in whatever form that may be. They'll be lucky to live a life free from psychological disorders. Quality of parents can make all the difference.
No one cares what the real story is. Everyone thinks they know how to fix education, but it seems only us frustrated teachers know what is really going on. Education is dumbed down because we are demanded to get the lowest performers up to the middle, and are not given time to teach the highest performers so they excel. Standardized testing, high stakes testing, whatever you want to call it. No child left behind means everyone has to wait in the lower middle for one child who is getting left behind– the child with no family support and learning problems that were probably a result of other social ills. If that one child gets left behind, lets call the whole school academically unacceptable.
Thank you! I was frustrated too. What an insult to imply that teacher quality has gone down because the brighter women when on to law school, medical school or into business. As you said, he barely brought up families and poverty. He needs to consult Dr. Stephen Krashen. Boards of Education eliminate ESL classes, get rid of social workers, nurses and art, music and libraries. He never mentioned special education. As an teacher I give him at D+. He compares us to Finland and South Korea. Those countries only have one culture to teach to. The U.S. has several cultures. We need more help in our schools and smaller class size, especially in the inner city. I challenge Zakaria to come to my autism classroom and tell me how to improve my teaching. He can pay for the supplies I will need too! How about a couple of ipads at $500 a pop!
Fareed makes many excellent points, but is overly simplistic and naive regarding many issues. Anyone who can solve America's educational problems in two pages should be running for political office. I am a teacher and what amazes me is that after 24 years in the classroom I'm never asked my thoughts on this issue. One truth is that you can't legislate good education. It takes and will always take commited students, parents, and teachers who are ALL THREE willing to work hard and "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps." If you are missing any of the former, there is trouble. My experience tells me the most important ingredient is the student. A hard-working, motivated student who comes from a supportive family has such an advantage over those missing these key ingredients. I could write a thesis paper on Fareed's simplistic misconceptions, but to not recognize these simple truths shows a lack of experience in the education profession...just like a politician. I wonder what category Fareed would put into regarding my SATs?
If you want students to get excited about education you have to change the system of reward. Those who focus on education (science, math and technology, etc.) are not often rewarded financially for their efforts. Those who focus on the manipulation of money (bankers, and other professional capitalists and their supporters) receive the most compensation for the least amount of education/time. They are rewarded for funneling the profits of our discoveries/labor and to the top 1%. Reward thr work of the educated (and educators) and watch the level of interest in higher education soar.
I couln't pass on commenting on Fareed's naive association of SATs and quality teaching. As an elementary teacher I have watched parents with degrees from Cal Tech, Stanford, UCSD, etc. come into my class to voluteer. I have seen them try to teach small groups lessons and get "eaten alive" by 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Their common response to me is "How do you do it?" Well Fareed, I tell them that it takes a lot of EXPERIENCE to learn how to deal with all types of learners. Never once did I tell them that I must obviously by in a higher SAT bracket than they are because they are intelligent enough to know that the SATs do not predict the future quality of teachers. DAAAAAAA!
I am currently runnning a commubnity based mentoring program in the elementary schools the most impressive part is that WE the adult population do not think that children are important and do not spend time with them. They are developing human beings and need the human model and relationships to be human. So where as I am in complete agreement with Gates and Duncan about what has to be done in overhauling the educational process, we must change the parenting/community paradyn. Adults must spend time with children. Most learning occurs outside of school not in the classroom. The classroom provides the tools. You heard gates talk about spending time with his children and exposing them to their environment with his supervision. how many parents or adults are doing this? Children should not be locked into 4 walls they must engage with adults and their environment.
Way To Go-Middle Third SAT Teacher-I'm not a teacher or have any degrees from any great college, just an advocator from my community expressing the desire that the school district employ teachers in our failing community schools who have had a great level of experience/success in growing children academically. Because of school district board politics, these schools get many of the in-experience teachers right out of college and not necessarily what is best for the future of all students. These students are forced to attend these failing schools due to the school attendance zones. Attaining the "American Dream" for the majority of these students is lost and the penal system wins!!
It's not just the U.S. The wealthy of the world went and gambled with the banking system. And they lost huge amounts of money through risky investing. And now it is the working class all around the world who are paying for these terrible mistakes.
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American people want to work and do not mind working hard , they ask for so little in return like paying rent and basic bills , drive a car , watch TV and go to a restaurant once i a while . But more then once they are hit hard by some of the worst kleptomaniac that running this country : states , federal , court system , police , hospitals , banks, and collections agencies . Soon they are in dept feeding more the once leach at the time .
The sad part , is that other American people, accept that systems by saying " it is your fault , for being irresponsible person" , the truth is that the system was suppose to handle only small percentage of the population not the majority of them under the idea that most of people ARE responsible . Police traffic fines should be lowered in order for officers to have less incentive to place money traps .Court should limit Layers fee and law sue to max X dollar per case and limit their fees , hospitals should bill customers with fair rates , foreclosures should be non existent for first time buyers. block china block china and also block china from stealing jobs . and for us stop pumping money to cell phone and tablet companies it is just a toys not your life .
The question is: what KIND of work? Manufacturing jobs are all but gone. The scene has changed, and Americans aren't keeping up with educational demands especially when compared to other countries. In that regard, we ARE lazy.
Looks like the inter-generational permanent victim welfare state in the US is having its desired effect: a reliable voting block for Democrats.
Or maybe it's b/c the last 30 years of US fascism aka corporationism does not work.
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if corperationalism don't work ,AMERICANS don't work,are these children of the future creating jobs? NO they are CRY BABIES .incompetent. the college certificate is as worhteless as the HIGH SCHOOL diploma.
Joe, go research fascism and you'll understand the problem. All the money has ended up in the hands of the few at the top. And every time there is a boom-bust cycle the gap becomes even larger. And the current "bust" cycle has vacuumed massive amounts of money out of the middle-class b/c there are no jobs. Nobody is a crybaby. People just want jobs. And the wealthy went and gambled with our banking system which caused the huge economic collapse and took down a hundred thousand small businesses and with them a massive number of jobs.
"Corporatism" is bad, then why is the Obama White House awarding hundreds of billions to their corporate cronies at the present time?
I don't understand why Fareed doesn't get it: OWS is about bad government–government bought and corrupted by money. There is no solution until we have campaign finance reform and preferably also Congressional term limits. Fareed does us a disservice by offering up a "remedy" for which politicians can mouth support. The politicians are themselves the problem. Until we get democracy back, every other "solution" is a bandaid.
No, ferelurchin, OWS is about getting something for nothing. Its about getting a good life without working for it. Its about making unrealistic demands to provoke a response then playing the victim. You want better government, elect it. Don't put in a closet socialist with zero experience and aspect good performance because he make DC you feel good. What you want is what your parents earned – a good life. Only you want it without effort and that makes you foolish.
Gee, Rog, really? Is that so simply because of your proclamation? Gettin' a bit big for your earthly britches, aren't ya?
I wish you would quantify the "effort" required to attain a good life. If it's to earn a college degree by working part-time to support oneself as a student and getting work experience relevant to what you want to do, earning a solid GPA, and submitting yourself to near-poverty as an unpaid intern, I would argue that this is what most of the "lazy kids" you see in OWS did, but still got screwed by the system that promised them a middle class, good life. I am a boomer-child, and I follow all the rules, excel in school and work hard, but I still have little hope that I can attain the same quality of life that my parents have. Hard work in a rigged game goes only so far.
I lived in California in the early 1980's and saw the public education system completely destroyed by illegal immigration. If the federal government wants to improve public education in America it would have to stop illegal immigration. If the federal government doesn't want to stop illegal immigration it should let individual states do it. But as we watch the administration sue Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, el al., those of us in the know can reasonably conclude that the feds don't care about education at all.
1. I refer you to a book "The Dumbing Down of America". Its from a while ago but spoke to what was already becoming apparent that American education was moving into a lowest common denominator mentality.
2. I have frustratingly been involved with a number of school districts and one constant seems to be that if you took their budgets each child could essentially have a private tutor and we could do away with the structure of the system.
3. Districts that have converted to a year long schedule have had significant improvements quickly.
4. A hallmark of colonialism has always been an eroding albeit elimination of the educational + culture systems of the occupied. It is to the advantage of the "1 percent" to maintain an ignorant electorate.
5.How did we get where we are?Loss of critical thinking. Loss of expectations of students and others. Using schools as venues to solve all the deficiencies in an impoverished community instead of holding the adults responsible. The most successful immigrant groups have been those that have respected education and expected success of their children. If one uses excuses the children, then, have no goals nor expectations.
US population is up 10% in only 10 years, mostly immigrants from mexico and Central America. Latinos have a near 10% H.S. droput rate.
Europe remains mostly white. Poorest performing sectors of society in Europe are immigreants from N. Africa and the Middle East.
You obviously haven't been to Europe lately.
I am European.
I agree with many of the comments but note that a critical factor is largely ignored: From 1970 to the present, productivity rose dramatically. This was due in part to the educational attainments of people in the workplace. Their efforts however, were not rewarded by wage and salary increases commensurate with the rise in productivity. Instead, the financial gains were awarded most stellarly to "the 1%." This failure to award productivity gains to those who achieved them–workers–is a principal cause of our lack of purchasing power now.
Every dog has his day and we’ve had ours...
And there are more days ahead. You wanna know why? We're in the Jimmy Carter phase of the next Ronald Reagan revolution.
Either you come with us or we'll drag you along.
You think...?
"The American Dream" is not about an individual's social mobility; it is about creating a society that is better for everyone regardless of social status. Inequality is not as issue of opportunity, but of gross disparity between those who have plenty and those who have too little. Framing the issue the way Fareed misses the point. While education is wonderful and should be available to everyone, it should not be a prerequisite for having a job that pays a living wage and having access to basic resources like food, water, medicine and shelter. Our society is one that has always marginalized a large number of its people and no amount of education or "opportunity" will change that so long as we do not recognize our obligations not only to ourselves, but to each others as human beings living together in society.
Left out a word... should read "Framing the issue the way Fareed does misses the point"
Actually,I’ve never know what the “American dream” is, it’s always seemed like a bloody nightmare to me...
There are few things as important to a childs future than their education and the biggest hurdles I see are parents who are not involved or do not care and teachers and their Unions who block any attempt at real improvement..
Hard to force parents to care more but for the ones that do there are definite changes that could make life changing improvements to their children in the area of school choice. I don't understand why teachers are so opposed to kids having a chance to attend better schools. Well, actually I do, it's called their back pocket.
In my area every time there is an attempt to give parents and students more choices on education and a chance to get a better education there are the teachers and their Union standinding in the way blocking anything and everything that does not give them more money.
We should force the larger companies to bring back jobs that they have outsourced to other countries. If they don't, we move our business/accounts to smaller companies that don't outsource our call and processing centers to Non US Based countries. Banks and Telcom companies continue to outsource and we need these jobs to return to the US.
The problem with not allowing outsourcing is that hurts the profitability of US business. If a US clothing manufacturer makes Jeans that cost $125, because they are made in America by Americans, they're too expensive. No one will buy them. The company goes out of business, now no one has a job.
So you have to let the Jeans company use sweat shops in India, then you get the $20 jeans that most of us are wearing right now. In theory its good for everyone, because now we get high quality but dirt cheap jeans. The company gets profits. And some kid in India gets a job that pays him enough to climb out of starvation, if not climb out of the ghetto.
Have you ever considered that maybe if that company did have Americans make those jeans and paid them a living wage, then maybe more of us could afford to buy more expensive made in America products. If companies keep worry about driving down prices by outsources they are going to find that they have no consumer left. Companies lack of willingness to provide a living wage in the US is eliminating their own consumer base. Large companies have caused their recession by decreasing wages, benefits, elminating jobs, and outsourcing. Whose left that can afford their products?
Thanks, Wren! Not enough people speak up to make that obvious point whenever someone brings up outsourcing ... it will make the resulting products unaffordable. When those manufacturing jobs existed in the US, everyone had less because prices were relatively higher – i.e., versus wages paid at the time; $20 jeans in the 1960's took out a bigger chunk of your paycheck back then.
If that were the case, Walmart wouldn't exist. Consumers do have a choice, and unfortunately many of them choose to shop at Walmart and buy foreign cars, rather than look for a Made In America sticker and drive a Ford.
I think that many factors contribute to the cause of why our education system is failing. So many, that its hard to know where to focus first. What is truly affecting what, and why is it not the other way around, or is it? Strip the concepts down to the basics, and start from there. External factors are usually situational, so its tough to point those out when other external factors could be causing those factors to exist in the first place. A lot of things are to blame, but a lot of things cannot be fixed by solely focusing on this one problem. I think, ultimately, that is our problem.
One thing that is missing in just about all discussions in MSM about education is the fact that all the biggest corporations are getting a free ride on the state and local levels. The corporations want to go to areas where the workforce has education but they absolutely refuse to contribute to the state income and property tax base. Even the standard "double taxation" talking point is more bunk than usual; if profits are taxed at all they are being taxed in some other state. Corporations are being taxed even LESS on state and local level than at the Federal level! Public education needs funding to work, but these people act perplexed as they hand that money over to the top 1%. They don't even receive jobs for that money... it's just another one of the corporate giveaways that are at the heart of most of our problems in the USA today.
Sure, we can talk about childhood poverty – the same time we can talk about the trillions this country has dumped into welfare programs while abortion continues, the divorce rate remains high, drugs continue to run rampant in cities, and the adults who live there do nothing to foster a more secure environment.
We can talk about poverty – as a direct consequence of the irresponsibility fostered by a culture which teaches person gratificaiton as opposed to social responsibility.
Any social problem is caused by several factors. Aside from what Fareed mentioned, I would say many Americans have abandoned GOOD VALUES that's why we are in the brink of our "empire's" collapse. Every empire in the past collapsed once its society became CORRUPT.
Former Bank Regulator William K. Black's Theory of Corporate Fraud
youtube . com/watch?v=pOgYbvWQYfQ&feature=fvsr
The plans to restructure Educational grants and loans is, for me, the most worrying and stultifying economic policy for social mobilization. Since WWII, easy access to education and money for college is what allowed so many of our fathers, who were uneducated immigrants, to make their way off the farm into highly paid city jobs.
Now, we're saying this next generation isn't going to be able to get those same loans for college (many of which were capped or eliminated as part of the Debt reduction package passed by Congress earlier this year). If your family can't pay for college, you don't go. More than anything else, that is going to lock generations of families into a perpetual cycle of poverty.
Fareed is out of his element. He's an idiot.
He is just reporting data from a valid study; no reason to jump on him.
http://www.economicmobility.org/
Also, Erin Currier of the Pew was interviewed on NPR this morning ...
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/06/142072781/middle-class-life-further-away-for-next-generation
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/06/142072783/american-dream-for-middle-class-just-a-dream
i live in downtown manhattan, and i can tell you that most of the kids from down here who attend private school are mediocre students at best. it's just that their parents have big money because they are part of the corrupt banking investment system. the kids are average students, and the parents are afraid they won't get in the gifted and talented schools, so they send them off to 35,000 per year private schools. then the kids go off to good colleges. this is while the middle class smart kids get to go to public school and struggle to pay for college. something is very wrong with this picture. Harvard and Yae, you should do something about this and give full scholarships to deserving middle income kids.
good segment, duncan's passion is encouraging but he and other fervent reformers are still looking at the shape of the box and not the content...sure longer day, more days, whatvever, but until, (taking cues from learnng and cognition research and through debates on empirical observation that lead to reforms in teacher training), the actual design of the school day, its convenient and wasteful (of time and potential) k-12grade/age divisions and, of course its bubble test and mandated curricula that take the classroom out of the hands of the teacher (which, in turn brought the decline in teacher training and the bureacratization of the schools under program managers instead of innovative, creative educsators).
The "Amerikan Dream" is dead.
matbe we need to look at the whole picture. maybe the breakdown of the whole American Socio-Economic system. As a person who has lived in Sweden and traveled throughout Europe, their system has it's problems also. Only in the last ten years have they had to deal with imiigration of much lower Socio-Economic races. Go look at Sweden today and see how they have had to scale back on imiigration and their social benefits.
As someone who was born in 1962 to the lowest income group, you can look at several factors. Some of which can't be ignored. How many kids do not have fathers in their lives, how many have no faith in themselves or any higher being, and how many are willing to sacrifice short term for long term gains.
I made it out through hard work, commitment, and parents who instilled many values which I never lost. I try to do the same for my kids, pushing uphill against a decaying culture that no longer values the vitues which made this country great. Blame others as you see fit, but only you can change you!!
I was always taught to pay back what you borrowed, even if you borrowed it with stars in your eyes or false promises, or if you failed at what you spent the money on. You still owe the debt.
(to finish incomplete sentence above)
...are changed, nothing else but the price tag will change.
A M E R I C A N A U T U M N - Take heart, those of Occupy Wall Street. You are on a noble course. Your voices have been heard and joined by countless others. Like the first Americans who could no longer endure the tyranny of a British rule, you are making your concerns heard. Your worthy actions have spread like a wildfire, bringing a light and direction for real Change, for no more will Americans accept the empty rhetoric of bought and owned politicians.
There are some who call your actions 'unorganized'. They do this in an attempt to minimize your efforts; but their devices are known and their days, as they well know, are near an end. Let their words not affect your spirit nor cloud your thinking. This event is like a melding of many elements which will come together and be forged into one mighty sword. For, as in this country's origins, those Colonists were deemed 'disorganized'. But from among those struggling Patriots arose those who became our Founding Fathers, the originators of the Declaration of Independence; and by their brave actions this Great America of the People was born.
Your actions are a new wind that finally brings Hope to the People. But take caution. Some of those who oppose you are desperate and without conscience. The many crimes of government officials, bankers, Wall Street, Federal Reserve (not a government agency), and other corporate thievery – they may try to hide their actions by wiping clean all computer records. Protect yourselves. Keep current paper statements of your bank accounts and deposits, and proof of mortgages and other ownership of property. Trust nothing to electronic files. This will reduce any chaos of their actions, as well as effects of solar activities, now increasing.
Be encouraged by the numbers joining your ranks. Soon, perhaps those of the Police and other agencies, who will find their invested retirement funds and pensions reduced or vanished, will join your ranks. The military too, for their lives have been spent in two wars founded on lies, and their valiant labors have been barely rewarded.
To the students and young people: Know many of you are the children of those who resisted the Draft of the Vietnam years. They are the generation of those men and women who died in the horrors of WW2 and came back immediately to claim: No More War Ever! Through their genetics, you have inherited their bravery and other ennobling qualities. When you see parents and older ones among you, know you are in great and bold company.
As in the days when this Country was forged – Trust in God. There is a Source (a Force, if you will), of which you are part, and which connects all living beings. When needed, ask for help to strengthen your efforts, or the inspiration to move your plans forward. And know your thoughts radiate out to others, equally strengthening and inspiring them. The Founding Fathers knew this. Follow their example and make this land a shining place once again. So be it.
Reprints, in any media, are allowed if not edited or altered: Copyright S/T – NYC, Oct 7, 2011
Very cute and 60s revolutionary but foolish and unrealistic. Mostly foolish. OWS will accomplish nothing because they don't wish to.
You're a hippie. How cute!
Now get a job and support yourself (and your offspring) because nobody is going to hand you a living, Wavy Gravy.
Michael Moore told protesters, "if you see someone trying to incite violence, start with the assumption that that person is...undercover homeland security or a cop or whatever, because this is the history of America, where those in charge have tried to ignite people, incite them to commit acts of violence. I tell them, don't be incited. Just assume right away that person is not part of the Occupy movement if that's what they're calling on people to do." – from interview by Rachel Maddow ( same tricks being used as during Nam protests – when the cia then introduced lsd to musicians leading the cause.)
Same thing happened when I was in college during the environmentalism protests back in the early 90s. The local police had infiltrated the protestors with undercover officers, who were frequently trying to suggest and encourage plans for violence, making of a bomb, etc. However, one of these undercover cops was identified, because he brought concealed weapons to a protest, and when the weapon was found, he was forced to identify himself as a cop.
As a public school teacher, at an excellent rated, suburban school, I teach a World Language. There are many issues in education that need to be addressed.
1. All kids in Europe do not go to the same schools. They are usually a three or four tiered system that tracks students based upon a combination of ability and industriousness, interest, and parental involvement.
2. The U.S. school system provides education to all students, no matter their I.Q., disability, income, etc.
3. Teachers in the U.S. level of ability is from 1 to 10. At least one-third are inept, don't care, or aren't the brightest bulbs; another 1/3 is average, but could easily improve if they had any incentive to do so; and the top third are amazing, but often leave and go into the private sector because they get tired of all the extras they do and cannot get paid more (once you've topped out educationally MA+75/PhD, one cannot earn any more money.)
4. Parents do not get graded and often do not 'sit' on their kids like they did in earlier generations.
As Americans, we should realize that we get what we vote for–if you don't research your local school board candidates, or you don't get involved in your child's education, then you get what you've already got. Poverty is another issue that is often misused in the mix. We also don't instill rigor and discipline in our kids today. Parents are glad when their kids come home with As, but they don't question the level of rigor in those classes. If they did, we'd sure have far more students getting Cs and Ds in school. It's a classic bell-curve, but oh yeah, that's a dirty word in the education system!
Fareed makes some very good points on American education, but one thing is never discussed. Regarding the high school drop out rate, why is this even allowed? No one should be allowed to leave school until they turn eighteen unless they have already graduated. They are considered children until then, and as such should be required to attend school. Basic education and the ability to read, write, and speak English should be a minimum requirement for graduation. Without that, they leave the system handicapped and we will all pay the cost for the rest of their lives, or ours.
"Was my post removed because I wrote that EU countries with large recent immigration are facing more education problems than those with more stable societies?"..................................We have to be politically correct – even when political correctness does not correspond to little things like reality and truth. In other words, our journalists have to dance around sacred cows without offending the sacred cows.
Got a reference that shows that correlation or did you just make it up?
I believe it never hurts to invest in education but I do not believe education is the reason for the countries woes. I think you have not been listening to what people are actually saying because I'm quite sure ( not positive but quite sure) I don't have numbers to back my statement up but.. if you look back in history say 75 years.. there were many people who did not even have a 9th grade education and many captured the American dream. Our country was built off the sweat of uneducated people.
Today in society .. kids have grown up watching adults struggling like dogs to make it .. to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Parents who have wonderful educations.. So .. do you really want to stick with .. its because of education ? Come on.. think bigger...
People aren't upset by the loss of social mobility – what they're upset about is that social mobility allows them to go down as well as up. Often, those grew up with the lifestyles afforded by parents who worked in good-paying jobs decide to "follow their bliss", as Joseph Campbell would say, and they become artists or social justice activists or just idle away their youth smoking pot and doing whatever floats their boat. Then they get to be 30 and wonder why they aren't doing as well as their folks did. I have a lot of friends like this – almost all the ones who are fans of the Occupy movement fit in this category. They came from upper middle class or even wealthy backgrounds and they feel that that kind of wealth should just naturally devolve on you regardless of what you do. America is extremely good at destroying hereditary wealth and privilege. People who think they're going to just coast through life because their folks had it good are rudely disappointed. Your parents' wealth can indeed buy you better opportunities, education, connections, a nice grub stake, but if you don't take advantage of them, you're going to be living in a trailer park when you're 40. Most of my friends from college who are doing well economically are from the lower middle class like me – we had some opportunities but we also grew up knowing that money didn't just magically appear in our pockets because we were special.
Ben, your argument is so lame.There are lazy, "blissful" people in every generation. That is not what is causing the problem now. In the "old days" people retired after a certain age – now many of them can't afford to. Plus, with mechanization, off-shoring, and computers we just don't need as many workers as we used to. So there are few jobs opening up for the young people. Also, America is NOT good at destroying hereditary wealth and privilege – many of the families who are uber-rich now are the ones who were uber-rich generations ago. Good for you that you are doing well, but I bet you aren't under 30.
I lived in France for over 7 years and found it to be almost impossible to move up the social ladder in Europe. Like my dad used to say, "Who knows how many Bill Gates they have flipping burgers over there." I didn't understand until I moved there and married an average Frenchman. That is when I realized you were either born rich and remained that way or were born poor and had to subside on a average salary of 1,500 euro per month...barely survival. Happily I am back in the United States and now very thankful for what this great country has to offer. Times are hard, but I can guarantee they are 10 times harder if not worse in Europe.
How long have you been back, Leslie? The Pew Charitable Trust has been studying mobility in the US and it seems to be less now, than in many European countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. It has 'slowed' because upward movement has grown smaller while downward movement has become larger.
http://www.economicmobility.org/
Actually, Pew isn't the first study to find this, an online search shows that this was first noticed a decade ago (e.g., Bowling Green University study). Pew is the highest profile one ...
Also featured on NPR this morning ...
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/06/142072781/middle-class-life-further-away-for-next-generation
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/06/142072783/american-dream-for-middle-class-just-a-dream
It's life people live it
Very profound.
I'm in tears.
EDUCATION SHOULD BE FREE!!!! SO WE CAN BECOME THE STRONGEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!
Todays show with the interview with the Sec. Of Education was completely HORRIBLE. The guy said NOTHING really, nothing. He got away with saying BS over and over and got away with saying the exact same thing the Sec. of Education said in the 1980's. Zacharia should have said, "Hey, could it have anything to do with the whole 'globalization' & 'free trade' agreements that has made America a 'service economy' instead of a manufacturing economy". Really, America produces nothing, college graduates and really everyone in America is expected to make money (a living) with their mouth & paper work, instead of producing anything of value.
Although I don't have access to Rana Foroohar's article, I understand she bases it on on a recent from Pew Research, "Economic Mobility from 1984 to 2004: Trends and Implications." The key finding from that study, stated prominently in the report's introduction, is–
"We examine trends in U.S. intragenerational income mobility over the past two decades. Specifically, we focus on how the economic positions of 25- to 44-year-olds change over a decade relative to one another, as well as in absolute terms (whether they are doing better or worse at the end of the decade than they were at the start). In addition, we compare intragenerational mobility rates over two periods, 1984 to 1994 and 1994 to 2004.
"We find that mobility rates have not changed very much between these two time periods. This finding is somewhat surprising given the changes in the economy in the 1980s and 1990s, such as the ongoing shift from manufacturing to service-sector jobs, rising immigrant populations, and extended periods of growth." (http://www.economicmobility.org/assets/pdfs/PEW_EMP_1984_TO_2004.pdf)
The researchers find no change in mobility opportunities from one generation to the next, yet this is not mentioned in Mr. Zakaria's analysis. Looking at an even broader time period, another Pew study on intergenerational mobility, "Economic Mobility of Families Across Generations," (http://www.economicmobility.org/assets/pdfs/EMP_FamiliesAcrossGenerations_ChapterI.pdf) clearly states that, "Children born to parents in the bottom fifth are more likely to surpass their parents’ income than are children from any other background," and that, "More than four out of five children born to parents in the bottom quintile have greater family income than their parents." These statements are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Zakaria's assertion that, "[Foroohar] points out that if you were born in 1970 in the bottom one-fifth of our socioeconomic spectrum, you had only a 17% chance of making it into the upper two-fifths."
This could be just another instance of Twain's "lies, damned lies, and statistics," but it certainly demonstrates how important it is for us to explore original sources before taking an editorialist's word at face value.
I look around me and while I see myself in essentially the same socio-economic stratum as I enjoyed as a child (firmly middle-middle-class), I see a much better-off world for everyone. I own luxuries unheard of in the 60s and 70s (iPods, cell phones, microwaves, cheaper cars, cheaper entertainment), have available to me an incredible selection of foods and other goods at grocery stores more numerous than ever, and I live in a world much less violent and dangerous than when I was a kid - and my son has never had a cavity. And, yes, social inequality still exists, but even the poorest American is significantly better off in 2011 than she was in 1961, 1971, 1981, or even 1991.
There's a little video (3 minutes) on the Pew site that explains the difference between absolute and relative mobility in their study. Also, you are confusing two different pieces of data: a) 80% of children in the lower fifth do *absolutely* better than their parents and b) 17% of the lower fifth make it into the upper two fifths (tiers). Pew points to 'stickiness' in the top and bottom fifth, about 40%. Which means that 60% of the bottom fifth are people who have fallen from the four upper fifths.
Unfortunately, no level of education can overcome the need for greed of the 1%. If I waved a magic wand making everyone a PhD – where would be the jobs for those people? In China and India? Increasing the supply simply leads to decreasing the price paid for that service. We'll be the smartest and poorest workforce on the planet!
Removing employment as the goal of primary education (because of the need for greed of the 1%), my experience says it is mostly the parents that make the difference. Bad teachers are not present in every class in every grade – that response is simply scapegoating and cowardice. As a divorced parent, my 1st grader doesn't play videos games (at least when with me), must read to me for 1/2 hour every day (and I to him every night), and is repeatedly reminded that (1) we try everything, (2) we always try our best, and (3) we never give up, with lots of examples in day-to-day life of how that recipe works. A good home environment can even overcome one horrible teacher. Creating a home environment that fosters education take time and effort. Having started to read just in kindergarten, my son now reads books for 2nd-3rd graders, and works ahead of the class on his own in math (not at my direction – of his own volition, his gift).
Here is my immigration policy: If you want to come to USA, get in line and follow the law. If not get out or we will send you back where you cmae from. Zero tolerance for all cocroaches.
Si, seenyore... I coodlent agreee weeeth yooo moooore.
Hai chee wa wa.
THE PRISON SYSTEM IS DESTROYING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM, IT WOULD BE CHEAPER TO BUY AN ISLAND. THEN USE THAT ISLAND TO THROW ALL THE PRISONERS AND LET THEM SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN WITH FREEDOM.
Our f...... politicians are the problem for many of us. I say throw them all into an alligator pool. They are not worth the salt of the earth. That also goes for all ofg Wshington DC.
Regarding Zakaria's point that education was one of the root causes, I believe there are two issues related to that. First, the kids themselves. Many kids are raised in "latch key" homes where they get home from school, let themselves into the home, and immediately start watching TV or playing video games – rather than doing something productive or educational – all with no parental supervision. This results in kids that have no patience and no discipline for learning. Kids don't do their homework, and parents don't encourage them to do it. There's only so much that a teacher can do to monitor the work of 30+ children. The kids and the parents need to take some responsibility with getting themselves the best education possible. They shortchange themselves by not doing that.
However, I do believe the system is also broken. In particular, our educational system has barely changed in the last 100 years – while the world has shifted dramatically. We now live in a highly technological society, where the best jobs require skills with technology. So why aren't we teaching the kids about that technology? Why do we focus so little on teaching kids math and computer skills? Particularly at the college level, 88% of students graduate with non-technical degrees such as Art history, Journalism, Politics, etc, rather than technical degrees in areas like Computer Science or Engineering. I mean, come on, do we really need tens of millions of Art History scholars? When thats a profession that has maybe a handful of paid jobs? We're failing this kids by not teaching them the right topics, and not encouraging them to take a major that is more practical, has a viable job market, and teaches the skills that are needed in the modern world.
I would take that one step further, though. Even when kids are taught a technical degree, the colleges are still failing these kids, because the content of the degree programs are often archaic. Namely, all colleges employ these guys called "Tenured Professors" who came up through an academic PhD program, most have never worked a day in their lives in any industry. So even when you take a solid technical course of study, like Computer Science, what the college is likely to teach is academic theory and the history of progress of that study – rather than practical skills and current tools that are actually used in industry. I think that should be reversed, namely the skills should be the main focus – the academic history should be a background topic.
When was the last time you were in a school? Since the 1990s in the Northeast at least, students from Pre-K to 8th grade were being taught computer skills. I taught it so I know that for a fact. Students not having skills with basic technology is not a problem. The approach to education has definitely changed in the last 100 years–in both K-12 and university. Large lectures used to be the norm in colleges in before 1990 and that has since changed to small classes and seminars at many schools. Workshops on pedagogy and teaching methodology are taught to graduate students–depending on their field. K-12 definitely has had many changes in the way things were taught–some of them widely criticized–new math, phonics, whole reading, etc.
As far as majors, there are definitely not that many science majors. But not everyone is gifted in that area. And why should someone study something they don't like and they don't excel in? Just for a job? How good will they be at that career if they detest every single minute at work? I think more can be done to encourage math and science interest but that has to be done at an early age. By the time kids get to high school, in some cases junior high school it is too late. They have to have an interest, the basic coursework, strong discipline and the ability to deal with all the peer pressure and teasing they get for being "nerds." You cannot take someone who barely made it through Algebra or Biology in high school and expect them to handle science majors or engineering curriculum in college.
"Just for a job?"
While I appreciate your opinion and response, I disagree.
Why else are these kids in school? Are you saying that 88% of the US population spends 4 years of their lives in college just for some sort of impractical, personal fulfillment fantasy?
If not, shouldn't we do a better job guiding them toward better long term career choices?
"You can't take someone who barely made it through Algebra in high school..."
Study after study has found that young children, under 12, learn Math much, much faster than older children. But the education system hasn't adapted to teach advanced math to young kids. That's just one example of how inflexible our education system is.
We teach kids to be afraid of Math, we don't teach kids Math.
I grew up in the 50s (yeah I'm old) when an average class size was 40, in most schools!! FORTY, can you believe it. Lots of different socio and economic groups represented. By the time we finished high school, that number was still around 40. 90% of my graduation class went on to at least a 2 yr college, 80% of those on scholarship. So folks it isn't class size. And social mobility isn't part of the American dream, except for folks like this author who make things up as they go along. Fareed, before you start preaching about what's wrong with the American dream, I think you should be sure you know what that dream is It's certainly not evidenced by the Wall St. rally folks. They don't have a clue either.
A problem which frequently occurs with interviews is the lack of the significant questions, the "zingers" so to speak. FZ is generally the best on TV, but still backs off. For example, he appeared to represent the tax payer in asking Arne Duncan about the money currently being spent on education. Duncan responded that we need to spend the money in a more strategic and wiser manner. OK. As a tax payer I want to know, "Where was the money spent instead of on a) more teachers, b) better pay for teachers and c) science and math labs. Duncan stated that he "Didn't want to point fingers." But as a tax payer I want to know that the powers that be know where we've unwisely spent our vast sums on education. Footing the bill, I want to know that they are going to move money from area "A" into area "B" not just ask for more money or come up with more untested grand theories as Bush et al did. We need people with access to the Duncans of the world to ask the significant and hard questions. If they won't answer confront them, push them, ask them to justify why they won't answer and fulfill their obligation to the public. If Duncan doesn't know where we've gone wrong and won't tell us, why should we support him? FZ does a great job with many interviews, but often he backs off. The Duncan interview was nothing more than a pep talk by the Director. I learned nothing. It was old material rehashed. I wish FZ would have a follow-up interview and really focus on what areas are going to be de-emphasized and what areas more greatly emphasized.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."
(Thomas Pynchon)
No one is asking the right questions about our public school system, but are having attention diverted by the agenda of the education privateers.
look around you Rome isn't burning, its burnt. When the dream finally ends the dreamers will awake, then we can finally do something big.
Couldn't agree more – not a question of if rather when the bottom falls out.
Wanna do something big? Work hard and support yourself. And don't expect anything to ever be handed to you simply because someone else worked hard and has more than you do.
When you understand that, that's big.
Hey Occupado, been there done that! you sleepers are broken records repeating yourselves. How can anyone survive on this planet and not work (foolishness). full of assumption and blind. the earth doesn't care if you don't wake up, it will just use you and digest you when its over. good luck sleepy head.
Is Fareed suggesting that the bottom 20% of socioeconomic spectrum should get smaller and smaller? ... the bottom 20% will always contain 20% ... some come , some go but 20% will always be there. It is only in Garrison Keillors world, where everybody is above average.
Make no mistake; It's the rich elite, the 1% bleeding us dry. They long for the days of 1800s labor laws. Now we work longer, harder and are poorer for it.
With all due respect to Mr. Zakaria – Education is the Least of our problems and his entire premise hides the real truth.... In fact he is part of the real problem. Here goes....
I work in Science. My job takes me from company to company (primarily Bio-tech). Each and EVERY company I work with employs Visa workers. Some of them are entirely staffed by Visa and Temporary Visa workers. The simple truth that most Americans have not figured out is this:
Congress allows nearly unlimited Visa workers on our soil. These workers for the most part have degrees (a majority of the people I work with have PhD). There is no tracking of how many Visa workers and Temporary Visa workers are here.
Now don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that people should not come here on a Visa. My issue is when Corporations fire Americans First and Hire them Second behind Visa workers and temporary Visa workers. This is the simple truth: You the American Citizen have been sold out by the Government and by both political parties to Corporations who want to pay half price for a PhD a Masters and a Bachelors. A person in India, China and Pakistan not to mention Canada, Africa and Europe would jump at the chance to use their "degree" here. Corporations have paid Lobbyist's to write law that allows Corporations to be able to bring these people here and even get tax benefits for doing so. This is why you do not have a job. Additionally many of the Visa workers I encounter have trouble with the most basic Scientific concepts (especially those from Pakistan and China) and are employed in high level positions here and frankly – I doubt they have the degree they claim to have. So good luck America it is the Political system that is destroying you one Visa worker at a time.
No that is not correct ... the problem is that so very few American have an interest in hard sciences ... so companies simply cannot find PhDs ... try go to any state university, step into the engineering department and see how many American PhD students you can find ... very few, because they want to be lawyers. But there will be plenty of Indians and Chinese ... including faculty. Visa progeam is a good trhing and should be expanded to attract talent ... and anybody with a PhD should be given a green card to saty.
Mike, thanks. I wonder how long Ross' company would last (or be forced to expand abroad) if some of its jobs were turned over to less qualified people (maybe even without a graduate degree) just because they are American?
Any talented American who pursues a STEM degree can get their full freight paid from third year of college (or sooner) all the way to their Ph.D.
Mike and Gary Please! – There are plenty of American people who WOULD persue degrees in Science IF industry PAID for this type of education. HELLO? I mean come on you two.... obviously do not work in Science and did not have to take a job for an extreemly LOW wage once you recieved your degree like myself and so many more like me. The reason industry does not pay is because we are now a DIME a DOZEN due to the Visa program. My goodness.... so according to you few Americans are interested and that is why Foregin Students are in our Graduate Schools? Take an Econ class and then comment because your premise is not based in reality. Even the article misses the point of Steve Jobs CHOICE to not get even a BA....it did not PAY. Companies can simply PURCHASE ANY degree they want by utilizing the VISA Program and do not seek Americans to fill these positions regardless of their Science degree... WAKE UP!
WOW!!! the more I think about what you two said... Reckless, uninformed, Ivory Tower Stupidity..... Expand the Visa program...... Yes you would advocate that because it does not effect you. Mindless, Factless and just plain STUPID.... How many people with Science degrees and bacgrounds are without work? I'll tell you TOO MANY!... and you want to Expand a program that brings in foregin labor. The absolute HEIGHT of STUPIDITY... ALL Tech Workers here in the US are under assault...And of course people like you have all the answers..... My goodness we are just DONE as a country with people like you we might as well fold it up now. Scientists are one of the MOST abused Groups out there right now and you want to Expand the Visa Program.!!!!!!!.......
Partially right! What happened; and happened very recently, is that the bottom tier has not only no opportunities but , more importantly no way of earning a self-sustaining income. Whatever jobs are being created are consumed by guest workers, not the long term unemployed. And pseudo intellectuals would have you believe that we should do away with a minimum wage, do away with unemployment, do away with socio-economic safety nets altogether. You are right, we did allow obscene disparity in income level to continue but unrestrained greed honors no boundaries. Denying whole classes of people a sustainable living is wrong and that is what it is about. I put the blame squarely on the Perot Prophacy coming to fruition. Unrest will only ferment until we do something to implement fair trade!
How can we expect the government to uphold education when a good number of ther did finish school...or came from weath and didnt have to finish school....just look at your current Gop canidates!!! none of those guys strike me as scholars but those are who we elect to run our country!!!!!....look at the bushes son for instance the guy could harldy finish a sentence correctly yet he was president.......Education is not important because we have wittnessed those who have become powerful without it........so they dont feel like teachers should be paid more or allowed to come up with better practices its not as important as obamas birthplace or some flky ish like that......i dont even think the problem is really fixable.......i dont think they want smart people here cause if it were more smart and talented people then how would they maintain the status quo???
Fareed, According to Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; the American Dream has been dead for 50 years and I am 54. It saddens me because the ideal is so great but the actuality is "it does not exist". We bought into a nightmare -
Bull. I'm 59 and the American Dream is still there. But you have to work for it, not expect it to be given to you. Its a reward, not a gift, and I earned it. Sorry you didnt.
Well said, Rog....
This whole high stakes testing is ruining education, in Texas, and probably in the rest of the country. Who is TEA and why do they have the power to shut down schools and call them academically unacceptable just because a minority subgroup within the greater population is not doing well? TEA has the power to crash real estate prices in a town by closing a school and deeming it unacceptable by rules that they change on a YEARLY basis. This is some social experiment to bring the bottom performers even with the rest, at the risk of those who excell. And if anyone cared how much teachers in Texas work outside of the classroom unpaid because they are afraid of losing jobs, we should be outraged. But we don't care. We want cheap babysitters while we chase our ever dwindling version of the American dream, and our children and our educators suffer for it. You know what I do with a class of 34 adhd low performing children? I make do, survive, and live for the weekend. And if I hear "Well at least you get summers off " again I will scream. That isn't a paid vacation, and I've probably already put in twice what my salary is paying me in August to June anyway. Yes, I work August to June. Not September to May. And just because you went to school doesn't mean you know anything about what it's like to work in that profession and try to make a living and raise a family. It is not a career, its missionary work– but I signed on to get paid, not be a volunteer. I'm not Mother Theresa. I'm going to take a much higher job working at WalMart.
Oh yeah, I don't acutally live for the weekend. I get inadequate planning time at work every Saturday for 6 hours. I live for Christmas break and July. But I love my students. So I put forth the effort. So I must really be Mother Theresa after all.
I think the Occupy movement demostrates the EXACT reason we are in so much trouble. We are the only country in the world where citizens are raised with the expectation to have everything equal to the next guy. When that doesn't happen we get mad and start pointing fingers at everyone and everything ELSE that we think is responsible. So let's back up a bit... the problem is with every person who ever blamed anyone else for their problem. The common factor among every successful person is that they have taken responsibility for their OWN lives. They don't sit around complaining that the welfare check is big enough! It didn't matter what school they went to. Every child and every parent of that child is more repsonsible for that kid's education than the school. Stop blaming the school. The kid can pick up a book and learn anything he wants... it's called responsibility! Or maybe the parent can actually sit down and read it to him. Now there's a novel idea!!
Every person in the Occupy movement is guilty of everything I've mentioned. They are demonstrating this fact by sitting around for WEEKS and doing nothing but complaining. They could have taken that energy and time and invested it in teaching themselves a new skill and offering that skill to others on their own time... it's called self-employment. Expecting someone else to give you a job and then complaining when it doesn't happen is another sign of the problem. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Get off your butt and do something tangible. Don't stand around screaming for a better hand-out! Our government is going down the toilet becuase the engine (the people) that drives the country have given up. Unless you want the government running EVERY aspect of your life, take back the responsibility of manifesting your own destiny and stop waiting for it to be handed to you. You DESERVE nothing. You have what you have... now go out and make the rest happen for YOURSELF!
You're completely off base. It has nothing to do with handouts. It's about corruption and corporate greed. Don't you feel upset that the government takes money YOU earn, then puts it towards things like bailing out banks?
And what about the people who apply to hundred of places and WANT to work hard, but no one will take them? It's silly.
If there was no occupy protests you'd simply be whining that people are lazy sheep who aren't trying to change anything. God there's no pleasing you people.
I have a hard time believing that these "protests" are anything more than a meeting staged by professional malcontents and participated in by thugs, gangsters and other assorted "useful Idiots". There are strong ties to the group formerly knows as ACORN and the TIDES foundation which have at their base a hatred of the U.S. as it has been comprised. Proof of that is the complete lack of consideration for the small businesses and individuals that have been harmed by these professional complainers. If the mayors of the cities involved had any testosterone in their systems they'd have moved them out after the second day. No one has courage anymore. Everyone is so paralyzed by what the press may say that they refuse the obvious action needed. Then it gets out of control, like Oakland, people get hurt, businesses damaged and these ne'erdowells become permanently entrenched.
We need to take care of the average guy/gal who hits the deck at dawn every day and works his/her azs off for years to support the system, not some glinty eyed entrepreneur who dreams of sending more jobs to China. Sorry Fareed, back to the drawing board.
Easier said than done, but maybe if American culture starts to embrace their education and innovative skills, then maybe we can still HAVE an American power in the 21st-century? Remember, our social, let's indulge to party and get fat happy culture actually looks down upon those who concentrate on education. So is it any wonder that we are where we are today? Change the priorities from greed and the happiness of wealth to intelligence, creativty, and responsibility, and we will succeed into a new and glorious era. If not, then I hope you all enjoyed the prosperity of the 80's and 90's because it won't come back in the same fashion it did then...we have only ourselves to blame, please remember that!
The American Dream has not been lost. In fact, it still exists vividly as ever. The problem is that those who say the American Dream is fading or no more are those who have turned away from the right path that leads to the American Dream and instead follow the dead-end path of the Left Social/Liberal Big-Government nanny state. They drank that Kool-Aide and now complain about their lack of social mobility. Then again Fareed, you wouldn't understand that because you're not a true American. You're simply a foreigner who simply now resides in the U.S. You can never understand what it truly means to be an American. All you understand is what you were exposed to as a youth in your country and what you, as an outsider, tries to understand, incorrectly, as to what America is all about.
There is one difference between the US and other countries that explains about 80% of the disparity in family income and mobility. Our proclivity to leave single and divorced women to raise kids on their own, leaves an abandoned and lost generation with few skills to navigate life. Although many single mothers do a miraculous job of raising their children, prison and poverty statisitcs show us that most who are unable to navigate life are those who have no father in their lives.
OWS Mantra:
What do we want - EVERYTHING YOU HAVE
When do we want it - NOW
Try engaging in the conversation instead of making up disparaging slogans for a movement you don't understand.
Indeed. I cannot think of anything more important to society than education. It's more important than social security, healthcare - just about everything. It's sad to see that our federal and state governments have allowed (even promoted) the deterioration of our education system through misguided direction and underinvestment.
Many current college graduates who are consistently unable to find work will be surprised to hear that EDUCATION is what they lack to obtain upward social mobility.
There's a bitter taste of truth in your sarcasm.
If you want upward social mobility, you have to get it the old fashioned way: Work for it. Work long and hard. Just like everyone else did.
Business as usual, eh Fareed? Its astonishing how little you understand about the problem. The solution is education? Hasn't that been the same tired solution to every major problem for the last 20 years? What have we solved exactly? Medicare is still in trouble. Social Security is now in the red. AIDS hasn't gone anywhere. People still do drugs. People still commit crimes. People still commit suicide. There is still plenty of homelessness and poverty. People still drink and drive. For all the education in the world, the only thing we really have to show for it is $1 trillion in student debt. Way to go!
Are we discussing REAL solutions to our continuing problems? We have a hidden oil crisis. We have huge sums of debt that can never be repaid. We have environmental problems, huge unrecognized social problems, infrastructure problems, and most important we have an economy that runs via a cartel model. You have no clue Mr. Zakaria. You will find yourself without an audience if you continue to pass off this crap as reporting.
Disagree here. When it takes a salary of 52k per year to make sense for a single mom to come off social services, why work. The stats show people staying on unemployment and welfare not because they want to but because employers can not compete with the government handouts which are much more lucrative. There is no ease out plan, it is pretty much all or nothing.
It takes more than $52k. Mom has to want it and believe in herself, which is contrary to liberal doctrine.
My son just read somewhere that a woman is going to jail for fraud because she did not count her boyfriends income in her food stamp papers. Reminds me back when fathers who became unemployed had to abandon their families so the wife could get help. Now if your unemployed your a bum and free loader who needs more education. Yet I know a guy who was told he needed a Masters Degree to teach – so he stayed in school another year – ran up a small fortune in student debt (Which he gets to take to the grave – no bail out for him he's to small and can fail) and now he can't get a job so works in a small store at minimum wage. The NEW American Way !
California is not spending twice as much on prisons as it is education.
According to the CA budget they are spending 46.9 million on education and 9.8 million on corrections.
#1 hit on a google search for "california budget" revealed this handy little website.
http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/Enacted/agencies.html
This article is complete rubbish. The author is making outlandish claims without validating his sources or even doing a simple web search.
I found numerous articles from reputable sources on the web stating that California spends more on prisons than higher education (11% vs. 7.5% in 2010, almost 45% more according to a Newsweek article published on 6/28/10). In California, it actually costs more than twice as much to incarcerate an inmate in prison as it does to educate a student in a public college.
he's friends with the Iranian president, what do you expect?
Do you believe it ? That is only bugeted figures and those figures are for 2011-12 (are we in year 2012 yet ? )
Get the figures from 2000 to 2010. You will know exactly how much CA spent on prisons compared to Education.
Indeed it does not seem to make a difference how good your education is or how hard you work. This makes Herman Cain's glib comments like, "Want more money? Work harder!" sound like today's version of "Let them eat cake." He's so out of touch with reality he should probably check periodically to see if his head is still attached.
if you want more money, work harder. What's out of touch that?
Are you serious?
The issue is not a loss of social mobility, but rather a loss of the willingness to put in the effort required to ascend the socioeconomic ladder.
You just described the hopelessness of liberalism.
And if you don't believe that, look what they've done to our inner cities. You can't blame that on some hard working Republican - even if he is rich.
Then why are liberals on the "AVERAGE" at least 10 pts higher in IQ that conservatives....I know I am at least 40 pts higher than most conservatives. (Nuke tech, eat it contard.)
The cost of doing business in the US is killing mobility – or should we say shifting mobility to other countries. Even Steve Jobs pointed out the stifling regulations against companies to Obama. Improving education may help, but it may just improved abilities of a potential work force with fewer jobs to have. Besides other taxes, CA employers also have to grapple with extremely high worker compensation insurance. It's a hideous hidden tax benefiting worker comp insurer and trial lawyers (a tax supported by both Republicans and Democrats)
The only person who can restore social mobility is YOU. Any politician who says you need HIM to restore your social mobility is lying through his liberal Democrat pie-hole.
Nobama 2012. Know it. Learn it. Live it.
I do wish this idiot would shut up. He uses every headline for some idiot position and CNN seems to promote him. Go away! You don't say anything relevent or intelligent.
I might disagree with Fareed Zakaria, but I think he has just as much right to post his ignorance on line as any other liberal ne'er-do-well.
I like how he interviews himself and self-congratulates himself for asking himself insightful questions.
The pros know how to make money and they're not sharing. But, we know too, and WE ARE SHARING!
Google the term "Simple Stock Cash" and click on the Top ranked non-ad site! Go to the Penny Stock section to find out what the rich do not want you to know. This will take you to another level of money making!
Besides this week's cover article in Time magazine and check out the Pew study online, there's another page from Time online that popped up in a Google search today ...
http://moneyland.time.com/2011/09/08/the-sad-sorry-state-of-the-middle-class/
Your assemsment is so wrong and where to start???? First you see the Ameircan Dream as a lottery / chance in life. The American Dream is simple....hard work and living within your means. It means starting with jobs that most Americans weren't afraid of doing dating from the 80's and back. Working on farms, orchards, meat plants, washing dishes, etc....Kids from the mid 80's to date want to start their American Dream givin to them.......Second is Education,,,,how do think all of these kids taken these libera arts majors think they can get a job????? Look at other thriving nations ...tare their kids getting their majors in communciation, gothic history, poly science or modern art???? Business, engineering and science majors are just too hard and trade school 2yr degrees are beneath them.......These Americans need to own up and take resposibility and others need quit enabling them to be victims!!!!!!!
Soooo...the 99% are mad because the don't have a chance to be rich?!?! LOL!
That's just it. They're not the 99 percent. They aren't even 1 percent.
They're nothing. Because if you expect the government to pay your way, that's all you'll ever be.
There is nothing worse than reading an article about education with spelling and grammatical errors. Really, did you go to school in America?
The idea that social economic mobility is difficult because of a lack of education is so far from the truth it is laughable that anyone would rint such a thing. Social mobility is being hampered by centralized government and over regulation. I can name numerous instances of successful individuals with minimal formal education including Steve Jobs who was mentioned by readers several times. The idea that improving and requiring more education has failed and often limits the education that many successful people historically obtain on their own. I could argue, for example, that the Occupiers are poorly educated because they think that there is a finite amount of wealth and inequality in wealth leaves little for others to acquire. I could argue that those who attack the rich are uneducated because they seek to take rather than earn. I could argue that those that support certain social programs are uneducated because they do not learn from their mistakes. In all three cases, I would be right. Sadly, in all three I would be criticizing some of the most educated (formally educated) groups in today's society.
Where Mr. Zakaria regularly gets off track is that he devises theories, then attempts to prove them. He would be more credible if he simply observed reality, then presented solutions. He no doubt is a smart man, but is his education getting in the way of his education?
99% of our country is too lazy to become the 1%. It is easier to protest than look for a job. It is easier to live off the 1% and complain.
That's just it, Robin. They're not the 99 percent. They aren't even one percent.
As a matter of fact, they're nothing but fodder for liberal dinosaur media types.
They just don't know it yet.
If one wishes to improve social mobility, the solution is obvious: dispose of all forms of government. Let's try this out for a decade or two and we'll see how well we do. At least taxes are not going to go up.
America has been sold out for nothing more than shear greed. We have not evolved pass thinking of only ourselves and not the collective good of society...which means we are doomed unless we wake up.
Greed has worked pretty good for me. I have a house, a nice car, a good job and a fat 401k. And I don't owe anyone money.
Of course, I had to work my tail off for that greed. And I'm darned proud of it, too.
too bad, if you were really rich you could have gotten all that by sitting back and letting your invested inheritance do the hard work for you!
Doesn't help that college tuition costs have gone through the roof (read: profit centers) and bad teachers are protected by tenure.
The American dream's been dead since corporations took control of the nation away from actual people registered to vote.
Perhaps Marx & Engels were correct. At least Groucho & Harpo were.
When Jeffrey Imelt was the CEO of General Electric, he shipped thousands of American jobs to China. Today there are thousands of American families whose breadwinners are still unemployed because of guys like little Jeffey boy.
So why did Obama appoint Jeffrey Imelt as his "jobs czar"? Jobs czar in charge of what, shipping jobs to China.
So! How's that "hopey changey" thing workin' for ya, fella!!?
Jeffry did not ship jobs to China b/c he is a bad person. He did it because of economic incentives for his company. Who better to fix the incentive system than someone who did the math and made the corporate decision to send jobs overseas. None of this stuff is personal. Its all about numbers. Executives do what the numbers tell them to do, not what their conscience tells them to do.
The comparison to Europe is erroneous. People in Europe might be moving up relative to the bottom, but that is probably due to the bottom lowering itself. Education in America is a real problem. Uneducated workers cannot retool themselves as the job market changes, leaving many workers displaced as technology evolves and markets change. I imagine that it is easier and cheaper to train a young person in India or China than it is to train a middle-aged person in America. My own belief is that the lower middle-class of America will always need to be subsidized by those above them on the socio-economic food chain, but that subsidy will pay dividends in the form of a greater economy and a safer and nicer place to live.
Yes – it is access to upward mobility that is a large part of the problem and fixing education is a cornerstone of that issue. But is not just fixing the quality of education that is the problem, but increasing affordable access to education as well. When I went to college in the late 1970's, community college was free. It was a great place for us rebellious teens to polish up on all the stuff we did not bother to learn in high school before moving on. It made up for the failing high schools of the time. i do not agree that schools were doing a good job back then. My kid today, is learning things, that most do not get until college, and he is in middle school. Things are actually much better today, in those schools that are doing well, and much worse (or so many say) in the schools that historically have not done well. Also, when I went on to a four year college, tuition was cheap – started at 130 dollars a semester and when I left it was around 300.00. So I think cost is actually our biggest problem after K-12.
However, there is another major issue here. Those who grow up in low to semi-middle class families, often no longer have good access to good basic quality of life essentials, like quality foods (or the time to even prepare them) or good access to affordable health care. Things that should be basic for the emerging middle class are not so attainable – often causing once what was once the emerging middle class levels of the population to feel impoverished – how can one have a good quality of life when the things most basic to health seem so unattainable. Combine this with a lack of a sense of security for the future, and most feel poorly off and rather dismal about their lives and hopes for the future.
Even Fareed Zakaria is an immigrant ! his funny acent remains me Apu from the simpsons!!!
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Liberal arts is worthless, and our kids take it because it's the easiest option. It should be greatly reduced.
yawn...let me sum it up. for the lazy and irresponsible, yes, social mobility does not exist.
as a side note, steve jobs did not get his genius from the cupertino school system. if that were true, wouldn't every one from his graduating class have his same genius? jobs dropped out of college after one semester of college. are you saying we owe the iphone, ipad and mac to the cupertino school system?
Sorry, the "American Dream" has never been that everyone can have a house, two cars, and retire at 55, the "American Dream" is that anybody could have a house, two cars, and retire at 55. It's as true today as it was 50 years ago.
Everyone wants the good life, but now noone wants to work for it!
the American dream is not dead. It has been lost by a generation of Americans who have grown up rewarded for making no real effort.
Thousands of ambitious immigrants come here every year with almost nothing to their name, but who very quickly take advantage of the tremendous freedom and opportunity afforded them. I am acquainted with a very successful community of immigrants from India whose families were forced out of Pakistan by Muslims. They are keeping the American Dream alive until those who were born here wake up and smell the coffee.
Is teacher a calling or just a job?
Calling– no idiot in their right mind would take that on for a job. Those that do last a year or two at the most.
OWS prompted by Obama’s class warfare rhetoric, infiltrated by communist thugs and funded by the unions and George Soros – standard far left operating procedures.
FAREED ZAKARIA IS FULL OF CRAP!!! This is a PERFECTLY AMERICAN state of affiars. Everyone in America has all the social mobility that they're WILLING TO WORK FOR! What these whining weaklings want is guarantees! Well, this is America, and the freedom to succeed on your own is also the freedom to fail on your own. Ya' cant have on without the other, so take a little of the energy you put into moaning and sobbing, and re-direct it towards achieving what you want, instead of demanding that someone else give it to you.
Mr.Fareed Zakaria, Whom I admire, Is missing the point:
We the baby boomers have created all the current problems. Instead of going after ideals, unlike our fore fathers we have pusued the all mighty dollar. The brilliant minds of today are interested in nothing else but making money. Corporations like Microsoft and Apple have done nothing for our well being. Donating a few dollars will never compensate for the damage done to our society. These people should have taken the reign of government as President Roosvelt did. Insead they let mediocre indivdual take charge. These people are only in government, biding their time, appeasing rich and powerful people for their own benefit. Thereiis no research of how these peole obtain their lobbying jobs after their term is over. I'm shure that there is plenty of examples. What about the individuals in charge of securities. Madoff got away for many years, where are the regulators? I'm shore they were rewarded with corporate jobs.
The military is not exempt. The wars are not won until security is achieved
Private contracting is in.
Speak for yourself. I am a boomer and I created none of this. My children do not blindly follow leftist philosophies, and I am not over-extended with personal debt. I am prepared to support myself in retirement and resent the current administration's royal reach-around into my life savings through their monetization of irresponsibly out of control deficit spending and class warfare rhetoric.
This is simply another load of crap. Blame anybody or anything but the people who make lousy choices and then have to face the consequences of their own irresponsibility. The route up the ladder is still there. Education, of course. That means actually going to school, actually studying, learning and applying the information. Then, go to work. Usually at or near the bottom of your chosen career path. Stay with it, put in the hours and the effort and you will rise. We still have equal opportunity. It's just that so many now seem to think they are guaranteed equal results without doing the real work of life.
Well said, but it will never happen because of the teacher's unions. Why do we think private and charter schools have proliferated? Public schools, unless the parents are really involved and demand it, have failed to meet their students edicational needs.
People, people, people!!!! The plan, since Reagan, has been to destroy our way of life by using illegal immigration, outsourcing, and our increasing dependency on a global economy to win the race to the bottom. Why should anyone be surprised to see we're winning. It's not by accident that good paying union jobs are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. It's not by accident that the Tea Party was created to aid and abet the process. It's not by accident that we have become a nation of idiots – being a Walmart Greeter or counter help at McDonalds doesn't require much of an education.
Yeah, it's all vast right-wing conspiracy that a whole generation of Americans were brought up rewarded for making no effort and millions were told they were perpetual victims and encouraged to spend several generations under the welfare state.
The domestic economy has changed from 1950 and union manufacturing jobs are few and far between. And it is hard to find individuals willing to do the work when they think their english degree should guarantee them a cushy web browsing job.
Well, obviously, the quality of education has dropped and prices have risen since the govt became involved. Don't be fooled by govt programs with important sounding names like "Department of Education" because therein lies the source of the problem we are facing. Everything the federal govt touches turns to crap.
The myth of mobility lets us blame the poor for their predicament. Seal the castle doors and leave them to their miserable lives.
THIS ARTICLE IS COMPLETELY IGNORANT> CONSIDER THIS> GO TO SCHOOL> MAKE MORE MONEY>
Fareed those chasing the American dream are not on the streets...they are the 53% that work and pay taxes so those on the street can get their government cheese
Professor Zakaria,
Income mobility has been increasing in the United States. If you don't believe me look at recent study by liberal media's darling, Emmanuel Saez (link below), in which he shows that income mobility is increasing in the United States. OWS is nothing but a bunch of spoiled brats who are rebelling against the system that enables them to live in their parents' comfy 300K homes. They were nowhere to be found while they were borrowing tons of money and enjoying plenty of leisure "studying" about Jay Z in their social studies classes, but when it turns out that spending 100K to be fed pseudoscience that is Sociology, they start blaming those who work 100 hour weeks for their own mistakes. Now those who studied math, statistics, engineering etc. and are reaping the benefits of their hard work are to be blamed because these morons decided to spend money on useless degrees. Ridiculous.
On a different note, do you plan on becoming an insightful commentator rather than being a weather-vane of conventional wisdom of the Left?
http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/kopczuk-saez-songQJE10mobility.pdf
Interesting article. Let me give my observations as a Canadian, Canada is a lot more like Europe than it is like USA (to the surprise of many Americans, no doubt).
In Canada and in Europe, teaching is a respected profession, teachers are well paid. In USA, teachers are mostly treated with contempt, they are paid peanuts. Well, pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
The big difference between Americans and Europeans is that Europeans (and Canadians) don’t mind paying high taxes; in return they get many services from the government (including free universal health care). That also includes education. Taxation is a dirty word in USA; Americans by and large do not want to pay any taxes (if they can help it).
Now with budget deficit running sky high (unlike Canada, we have minimal budget deficit), education is being cut. That will put even more pressure on teachers, more of them will leave. Good luck with that.
well said.
how much do you spend in national defense? how many nobel winners come from Canada? why do so many canadians choose american hospitals for difficult procedures?
Why do Canadians and Europeans live longer (average life expectancy is 80 years, versus 77 years for Americans)? Why is the homicide rate much lower ( 1.5 homicides per 100,000 persons in Canada, versus 5.3 per 100,000 persons in the US)?
And why should Canada spend more on national defense? To invade North Korea? And impose democracy there?
The US spends around $30,000 per year on jail inmates. If you offered them $15,000 per year not to commit crimes, half the low level criminals would take it and the US would save bucket loads of money.
This report is a farce. Although education and its crippling cost is very much a problem is is far, far, far from the "primary problem". I dont think Fareed Zakaria even bothered to talk to the protestors, rather he listened to his big corp backers. The PRIMARY problem is money in washing and the fact that every one of our leaders, including the president are bought, sold and owned by big money. They no longer work and represent the people, and neither does the media (obviously). Secondly is deregulation bought by wall street, the same regulations that were put in place after the great depression to protect the economy from it ever happening again. They removed those regulations and look what happened, and ask yourself, how many of those white collar crooks on wall street were prosecuted? Our founding fathers founded this country not because of religious prosecution, but rather of the inequality of law for some but not for all. This country was founded under the principle that no one is above the law, and nothing could be further from the truth today. The fact is today that if you have enough money, the law does not apply to you and you can steal and borrow to your hearts content, as long as you have a congressman in your pocket. This LIE and FEAR tactic to the cry of socialism is a distraction from the real truth, not class warfare, but class equality. Can we live in a country without any laws and prosper? Maybe in a perfect world where humans have evolved past things like greed, pride, and all the other 7 deadly sins (as an outline). So what makes anyone believe that our economy will thrive without regulations? Washington did deregulate a great deal and look where we are now, a country (and world) on a fast track to anarchy. Smarten up and wake up America, the truth is obvious.
I agree. You can't make enough money to keep up with inflation these days. At least the middle class can't.
Today, California's public schools are a disaster, and the state spend twice as much on prisons as it does on education.
Oh, so true, Fareed, if only you got see what they teach ? in public schools here in CA. Science and technology is considered an after thought, something that you do, on your own, if you are a "nerd", and unprepared and untrained teachers beg parents to help out.
CA, despite the finest education curriculum I have seen, has serious deficiencies to cope with.
Might I suggest that CA parents in high technology remedy this. All CA corporations must mandate that technically oriented parents spend a day per week, fully paid by the company, teaching CA science and technology curriculum to K-12 students.
What do you think ? Doable ? What might the corporations think ? Can Gov. Brown enact something like this quickly without school board and unions getting in the way ?
Public schools are a disaster. Too much time must be spent on keeping children under control, and disciplining the ones who are not there to learn, that the good students cannot learn enough. Safety is a major problem. Schools need armed guards. So the problem is actually in society and neighborhoods. Why do you think there is a resurgence in private schooling? If people can possibly afford it, they send their kids to a safe private school where children learn values and lifestyles that will make them future productive citizens.
Farhud has a fine career ahead of him on al-Jazeera.
Which is a better channel (it's founders are former BBC journalists) than being in Fox News. In Fox News, they are proud about their ignorance of the world, of the sciences, etc. And their viewers are made of the same low IQ material.
He forgot to mention the deep entrenchment into treason that is continuing. At least this videos shows the weakness of the economy.
Education is key?
What? Are they supposed to teach in school? I thought modern schooling was all about:
- transporting kids
- feeding kids
- making sure kids feel good about themselves (everything has to be politically correct)
- keeping the kids out of the parent's hair for a few hours a day (or as one commenter on another site said -the "breeding couples")
- writing a different curriculum for every student because they are all "special" now (no such thing as a "normal" kid anymore)
- social engineering, nobody is different – this seems to conflict with all the kids being special
- constantly increasing taxes and less educated kids
This is supposed to lead to upward mobility?
The super rich think they have screwed the middle and lower class but by the looks of the protests they have caused alot of angry citizens that are mad and something will be done.The rich should pay for any protest related damage as their greed has caused the unemployment by sending all jobs to Mexico/China/ect..........pigs .........but as Bob Dylan sain.the loser now will be later to win as the times they are changing...
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
– U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
is everyone forgetting that the 1970's was not exactly Boom times. Does anyone remember what the average salary was at that time? How many people owned cars versus today? How many people own homes versus today? How about the fact the DJIA was not even a threat to break 1000 points back in those days.
what we have today in the OWS are brats who got used to how good things are and forgot how bad it was just a generation ago. Not everyone can afford a car in the 70's now everyone wants to own a private jet? bad times are about to cycle through and shame on those who are not prepared for this.
Your 100% wrong. You don't think these people are victims of corporate and Wall Street schemes. Come on, this situation is out of control and if you think these guys are not going to be eventually prosecuted then go ahead and keep blaming the protesters.
Tragically this could devolve to barbaric civil war someday. See the limo, destroy the limo.
oh.. just to add... how about showing up in OWS with a $600 IPad with a $400 smart phone that comes with a $120 monthly subscription... what a shame.
Good point. I'll also note that the majority of owsers have never seen a recession before, having grown up during an anomalous period when typically periodic recessions were artificially kept at bay through various questionable means. As a result, they're panicking, because what they're experiencing has no precedent in their spoiled, pampered existence.
Thank you once again Fareed for your well written and fluent use of the English language to write an article that is COMPLETE AND UTTER HORSE HOCKEY. Pay attention friends and neighbors, this piece here is CORPORATE GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA.
GO TO YOUTUBE(dot)com/user/0407Anonymous and watch "Anonymous: Operation No Middle Ground v2.0"
However, if you believe this corporate media kisser of glutenous maximus then let anything you –might– learn about what is REALLY happening in the world pass you by as if it had never happened.
May you always have water,
0407
Health care lobbyists fund politicians campaigns – politicians make laws to fund health care – health care industry gets more money and funnels some of it back to politicians campaigns – no industry is employing other than the health care industry – more people work in the health care industry than ever before – they want to keep their job so they support a bigger health care industry. How does this cycle stop?
While the Tea arty is brainwashing people to give up their social security and medicare they don't realize that what happens now
to the less fortunate will happen to them but by then it will be to late for all but the greedy Koch bros...
The American dream is alive and well. It's worked for me. The problem is the people these days who "want what they want and want it now" but unwilling to do the really hard work to get there. I used to be an educated idiot too: a degree, that made me superior and smarter. Boy, was I in for a surprise. I worked my butt off, and although the degree helped, nothing replaces hard work. Have you worked 80 hours in one week lately? Didn't think so. Those whiners and complainers are just unwilling to do what it take to live the American dream. They want it handed to them based on their sheer intelligence only. How laughable.
Just wondering if this about the bank bailout why it wasn't done 2 years ago when the bailouts happened. I know a lot of us were angry then but to still be angry 2 years later? Lastly why just protest Wall Street and the banks that took the money? Really the protestors should be camped out on the White House lawn or in front of the Capitol building to protest the ones who passed the bills that made these bailouts possible. Shouldn't Nancy Pelozi be feeling some heat for all this mess?
Social Mobality. Is tied with education but Europe has been around for a very long time in fact education is a European word. So they've always had a head start also they have a smaller population then the United States. Lets take good old France. That countries population is what 60 million. Of that how many are students and figure the percentage. An match it with the United states with 300 million people. Its clear to me any way its not that are school system is broken its that there aren't enough schools. Or most of the new schools are all about created a hormonies location instead of educating.
Build more schools causing the need for more teachers. Putting more people to work in the education system. While increase the Education of America.
The 'failure' of the American Dream is the failure of the educational/governmental systems because they teach reliance on others, reliance on government. When people believe that someone else is responsible for their success or failure, as the curret system teaches, then we are doomed to receive all the problems that now beset us. We have done it to ourselves.
The real American Dream is still very much alive, and is rooted in self-reliance and individual effort. Teach that in schools and everything else will be fine. As it is, when we teach kids that they can assign the blame for their sitution to someone else, we thereby take away ther power to succeed. Why? Because we've taught them that they don't have a say in what they become - and only the government can save them.
Look at the OWS folks, and their supporters. They're assigning the blame for the world's situation to some who are blameworthy, sure, but they're leaving out the very ones who have created this dismal swamp - the educational system and those on both sides who want to have government do more and more - and who demonize most successful people just because they have more.
Education should teach individual responsibility, ethics, and that ethical success isn't bad. People should be taught that they alone are responsible for their situation in lifeand the results will be positive and dramatic.
Screeds like this by Fakaria make people dependent and angry and worsen a bad situation. It's a dangerous and reckless course, oner the US has been on since the mid-60's.
Why aren't you working now?.If you want to work 3 jobs good for you thats what the Koch bros want so they can pay 0 taxes
There used to be the saying "if you don't work you don't eat". A few days ago I heard a young lady who racked u $80,000 n student loans at Columbia in cultural studies say that taxpayers should support people like her who do not want to work because she cannot find a job that meets her stature and education. She wants tens of thousands a year in welfare and taxpayers assistance while she sits at home eating bong bongs.
Coming from Minnesota and relocating to Arizona I see what my mother was saying when she said the state I grew up in was some of the best. I feel for the kids who are here LEGALLY and have to be held behind because there are illegal immigrants slowing the class down Maybe in parts of Europe the education is better but that is a bold statement to say that they are ahead of our entire country. Instead of wallstreet being all hippy happy and equality maybe they should realize they very people who are causing them loss of jobs is the illegal immigrants they "support".
In the best country in the world with one of the best chances of personal success, I have to read on CNN daily "The dying American Dream".
It should read something like: "People not willing to work for the American Dream anymore"
Thats the American dream working 80hours a week?while the rich pay 0 taxes on your back...LOL
Fareed nailed it! I'm a Stanford grad, and simply cannot find good work anywhere. I'm one of those who GAVE UP years ago. BUT, my 'ticket' to social mobility was marrying a wealthy young lady recently. We have twin boys now, and I am a stay at home dad. I drive a BMW, and we live in a half million dollar home here in the Chicago burbs. We have a kitchen drawer full of cash (thousands), that I can use for anything! HERE'S TO MARRYING WEALTH!!!
I'm holding a thick WAD of cash right now! About $12,000 dollars!
Wow!
LOL! So THAT'S the American Dream! Dream on!
Unfortunately, very few can become upwardly mobile like this. The rest of us have to work for it.
However, your comment made me laugh. The one bright spot in a sea of negativity.
The US Department of Education needs to be dismantled. Return educaton to the local level. Problem fixed
really? so we can all be as dumb as perry and bush? they didn't need no edumacation to suckseed
This is a great country for jobs....Wallmart/Dunkin donuts and Mc donalds....Good enough for the future tea baggers.
Funny, thousands of ambitious immigrants come here every year with next to nothing and take advantage of the many opportunities and upward mobility afforded here to become ver successful indeed.
It seems to be not a lack of opportunity, but a lack of ambition among some elements of our society.
You are quite right.However, 1.2 million persons immigrate into the US every year. So the thousands of immigrants who do well are 0.1% or so of the total immigrants. The rest are working for below minimum wage jobs.
Fareed always seems to have an agenda. Europe is always right with Fareed. They do everything better in Europe in his opinion. Well I grew up in Europe and I can tell you that America is the place for upward social mobility not Europe. I don't need an academic study to point it out. It takes hard work and most of the protesors that you see on Wall Street can't form an articulate sentence, have too many tatoos (yes they make it hard to get a job when they are on your neck), seem to like using drugs, and have a major problem with following the basic laws of society. That is why they are not upwardly mobile.
Fareed is a friend of Iran
How much do you know about Iran? It's history, it's culture? It's ruling dynasties?
Time for you to stop swinging on trees, and about time you evolved. Unless you are waiting for Adam and Eve to rescue you!
Dismantle the Dept of Ed and we may as well all move to Texas with Rick and work 3 jobs.Rick and W proved we don't need any education...
I agree that education is very important to social mobility. I disagree that declining educational standards is the cause. I believe that the declining standards are a Result. With more and more money going to fewer and fewer people, there's less and less funding (and interest) available to the rest of the population. The top 1% can afford outrageously expensive private prep schools and colleges designed to slingshot them into the upper tiers. The rest have to make do with publicly funded schools or lower echelon private schools and colleges.
The top 1% perpetuates their lock on America's future by being in a position to lobby for legislation that favors their increased benefits or removes/reduces constraints on their behavior. Our pain is not real to them. Only their pain is real, and they're well able to buy their way out of any painful or uncomfortable situations. While the top 1% tries to decide whether to vacation in Switzerland or the Bahama's, the other 99% worry about paying the mortgage and feeding their family. The golden rule applies all to well in America; If you have the gold, you get to make the rules.
I MARRIED INTO MONEY! YOU CAN TOO!
Me too! I went to college to do what I love...TEACH...so I had no other choice!
Fareed's an Iranian agent, don't take seriously anything that oozes from his mealy mouth
It all boils down to one problem. high unemployment.
If employment goes up the amount of workers available go down driving up the prevailing wage.
there for you have class mobility and closer income equality.
Of course I mean private jobs as there is no way government can provide that many, not even the iraq war drove down unemployment in a considerable way despite all the soldiers and military industrial jobs, let alone paying for it.
Only profitable private sector jobs can do this.
\Is that what they are all whining about? Upward mobility? Buwaaaaaaaahhhhaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaa!
What's most important to becoming rich? Most rich people will say hard work, spending less than you earn, and investing the difference. Grow your net worth and don't blow your capital on stuff. Most poor people will say education.
Fix education by having year-round school, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dropouts forfeit any future Social Security payments. Deport all illegal aliens. And if you're not willing to go to school, at least quit marching and whining that Burger King jobs don't pay $60,000 a year with free health care.
Fareed, You're not paying attention. OWS is not about the increasing lack of upward mobility, although that is a major symptom of what this denizen of Occupy Sacramento sees as the base problem. The problem is the money being poured into the political system by those who don't want the have-nots to obtain any part of the pie. Education is being priced out of reach for millions of qualified students. People can't move to where the jobs are because they can't sell their current homes. They can't even get jobs in their own regions because they don't have current jobs. Schools are being stripped of the dollars needed to be properly run, teachers are denigrated and having their pay cut because those in power will not raise taxes and cut subsidies to favored industries or campaign donors. The list is long and nothing will be done until and unless the political dollar playing field is leveled.
The dream will be over when the remaining sleepers awake to the reality of what they have been used for, slavery.
The shoe is on the other foot. Now, those who've benefited from privilege will feel and live what it's like to be second class. Don't pin the blame on the current president. These difficult times were destined to happen, especially with the onset of war over a decade ago. Our current president was given scraps to try to piece together to raise this country up, and he's faced one attack after another along the way. We can no longer follow leadership that keeps the people in the dark about what's really going on in the world. We need the truth, and we need a way out. There is freedom here unimaginable anywhere else in the world, but life is still painful, and it's getting harder to enjoy that freedom because the cost to live freely bears a very high price. Almost feels like selling your soul, just to make ends meet.
Lost eh ? Leave a trail of bread crumbs and stop blaming others for Obama's ineptness.
Restore social mobility eh ? With the Everyone's a winner,everyone gets a trophy mentality in our Education System most do-not even try. why should they when they are promised the same "sharing of the wealth " as those who do try ? We have poisoned our own well.
The problem with education is liberals think the problem lies with money when nothing could be further from the truth. Most of America's schools are very well funded, and teachers receive more than a fair salary.
The problem lies with the American home. Education is only as effective as parents importance stressed on it. Children with good parents are much more likely to succeed. So with that known the question turns to why are American's not as good as parents as our European counterparts.
Once that is answered you'll solve your education problem.
Not really that difficult when you compare how many hours Americans work vs. time spent with their children. The European system is considerably more supportive of providing parents time to be with their children.
And really, the idea that "liberals" think it is all about money is nuts. It is "liberals" who know what the actual problems are, while the right wingnuts run around screaming about unions.
Yeah, alright we know that Islam is going to rule the world, as Hitler thought, The Mahdi will reign supreme, like Adolph, and of course Jesus will cut all of our heads off! What a beautiful future we can look forward to.......
The American dream is what you make of it... sit on your tail in a park saying "its not fair" and its not going to get any better. Get at it every day and try to make the dream happen and you'll get somewhere.
Idiot the Majority of the people in the Parks are college educated,or working people who used to be employed,I am certain had they been blacks you would have called them other names.
But too bad for Idiots like you these people are educated and know that they have been Screwed by Banks who in reality own nothing and are only using the average person,s money to buy influence against them.
Until society makes it so that being the best educated that you can be and not the "pants around the ankles" "gotta be cool and stupid is cool" mentality with parents that as dumb as rocks we will never stop the decline, it starts with the parents...have you ever met conservative parents that could not even read and think the bible is real, this is the problem, liberals on average are 10 IQ points above conservatives and that is way low of an estimate in what I have experienced.
I have not ever met a "Lazy liberal" and have met scores of "Low IQ conservatives", most of whom can't even read street signs.
The best example of income disparity in this country is the Lotto. In Lotto there is one winner who becomes fabulously wealthy and everyone else gets Zero. Lotto is the winner take all utopia. I’m sure most of the protesters here have played Lotto at least once like most all lower income workers do. These protesters would love to become very rich at the expense of others they just simply haven’t figured out a way to do it. That is why they are so angry.
So far, the only tax policies put forth by the Republican Presidential candidates would raise the taxes for each and every middle-class and poor American (nearly all of the 99%), while drastically cutting them for the wealthiest. Yet we have a bunch of "Taxed Enough Already" folks running around screaming support for these same candidates. Something is obviously wrong with this picture.
It’s funny how the media seems puzzled on why this protest just won’t go away. And it’s amazing how the professional politicians won’t even comment about it much. To me it seems real simple. The people of the America what their power back! We won’t our votes to be less selected. We want the majorities will to show in the Whitehouse’s actions.
It’s really just a simple case of evolution. The power hungry have clustered in our government. And there is only one simple fix. Dilute the power of our government back the people. You do that and lobbyist will stop investing into the industry of the professional politician.
Just give the people the ability to take a vote away from everyone on a ticket. If they can’t find anyone on it they can trust to vote for. Do this with a no confidence vote on every ballot. One simple check box can give this nation the change the majority of us are looking.
Immigration should left to law. And the other half of this simple fix is I would rather buy a Mexican made Iphone and a Chinese made one!
People need to understand that not all the rich are "job creators" a great many are job destroyers and job outsourcers. The traders and bankers are leaches who have hurt many through nothing more than old fashioned greed.
Most of the job creators are actually small business owners who do not qualify for either the top tier tax bracket and who don't claim their income as capital gains which are taxed at 18%.
Although education plays a major role in social and economic mobility, another factor is a strong manufacturing base. The strongest manufacturing base in the world helped the US recover from the Great Depression faster than most other countries, and after WWII allowed many in my parents generation move into the middle class and achieve the American Dream. Those countries with an ascendent educational systems such as China, India and Vietnam can provide jobs in manufacturing for high school and college graduates. The Scandinavian countries have a manufacturing base that remains strong. And we all know what has happened to US manufacturing. Even if we had the best educational system in the world, if high school, trade school and college graduates can't find jobs, we are just planting seeds in non-fertile ground.
Very simple, if COPS after 5 years on the job are being paid upwards $80,000 a year without a college degree,and teachers are barely making $50,000 with a degree what do we expect.
Teachers aren't volunteering to be shot at...
Actually that depends on which school they end up teaching at! There are some that the teachers risk their lives every day dealing with the students.
American dream is still alive for Asians, especially for Indians and Chinese.
And our sold out politicians have seen to that.
Why do you think that? Because they are harder working in school than the white and brown kids. Their parents EXPECT them to work longer hours at studying. The other reply to this post is just plain stupid. The government has not favored Indian or Chinese kids. Our white and brown kids should follow thier lead and work their tails off to get a head. If you don't get a good education and skill you have only yourself to blame.
Doesn't work that way, Fareed. All you're going to end up doing is destroy the education system. There are many areas of the world where poverty does not equate to immoral and criminal mindset, except in the United States. Education cannot make over a person's character. Part of the problem with America today is the low life trash who have become socially mobile and advanced into the professions, especially finance, to ruin those industries. Government is overpopulated with them by decree.
Fareed, It must be nice to make a living spouting opinion devoid of facts. Some of the replies to this article are much more thought out than the opinion piece. NY spends over 18k/student yet the graduation rate is only 72%. The town I live in spends far less but the graduation rate is in the high 90% range. The problem is perpetual disregard for education and people expecting more than what they deserve. Sure there are many people who are down on their luck in this economy but for younger people the dream is alive and well. If you gain a marketable skill you will find good work and if you are hard working, thrifty and smart you will find the american dream. This takes time and planning. The millenium generation is slothful and over self-indulgent. They expect 6 figure salaries and work the minimum 40 hour week. Sorry it doesn't work that way.
with all do respect to mr. zakaria but he is wrong. all the statistics and other facts he used in this video presentation are true but the fact of the mater is that our kids today don't want to work hard in school. they don't want to improve their abilities beyond our educational system. i never learned anything in school and I had to work hard at gaining more knowledge after graduating from collage and I still spend many hours every week expanding my knowledge and keeping up with the latest and greatest in my field. the majority of 20-40 year olds want the easy way out, they mostly want to do art or get a great job with their useless business degree. smart kids are being made fun off. our engineers are being told they lack social skills and cannot communicate with others because of the fact that they are engineers, therefor, who in the heck is going to aspire to become one? people who work hard have a good life and the ones who would rather "chill" can suffer like they should. tell the lazy protesters to get their behinds off of the streets and go learn new trades that can benefit them and our country.
-Billions of dollars provided for free education
-Billions for pre-school and daycare
-Billions for college loans/grants
-Billions in Small business loans/grants
-Military opportunities provide almost any benefit you can imagine
-Overwhelming Equal Opportunity laws
-Federal government redistributing income at a frightening pace.
-Ridiculous policies to get people into new homes/cars
-Personal responsibility/accountability? Little and falling.
With regard to CA schools: Ca is not a state that has encouraged its immigrants to "take care of themselves". So, why should they learn English if the schools pander to their wanting to speak Spanish? In doing that, the school system begins to disintegrate for its making something else than teaching most important. I'm from Ca and went to school there in the 50s and 60s when it had a good educational system. Not now, by a long shot especially with the added incursion of the Fed Govt.
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immigrants, immigrants, immigrants we are all immigrants, we should really spend more on education NOT prison! average cost a year for a prisoner is more than spending money for public education. THIS IS DUMB!
There is more than enough money being spent on education. The problem is that students are not willing to learn or push beyond what schools are offering. Kids want the easy way out and unfortunately the ones who are smart and wish to work hard are being harassed and made fun off. People must become poor before they have a awakening and become more motivated to become creative creators rather than idiot consumers.
In all my life I have never met one American who was mad at the Rich,matter of fact most americans aspire to become rich themselves.
But when you have Large BANKS,such as BOA,CHASE,WELLS F.who in reality don,t own a penny and are just using depositors money and then turn around and tell them we will charge you $5.00 a month just to use your money,people have a right to wake up and say enough is enough.
Most of you idiots here defending Banks don,t even realized if %75.00 of the depositors weer to ask for their money from these large Banksters,that there would not be cash to pay them.
it's amazing how certain posts silently just don't get posted
let me say it in a nutshell: the USA are a country and a people in cultural decline, and they don't know it.
I truly wish it wasn't true. I love this country, I wasn't born here, but I love it anyway.
My role model: Neil Armstrong, a guy walked on the moon, came back and didn't even brag about it. Now that's a man ... where is the new Neil Armstrong. Nowhere .. or possibly just trying to hoard cash. So sad ... Prove me wrong, please
I agree. We celebrate the founder of Facebook as a super capitalist. What does facebook produce? It's a forum for narcissism. Take a visit to the far east. The people there are willing to work 24×7 to get ahead. The new generation of 20 somethings are generally lazy but over expectant in terms what what they would like to be paid. I see it first hand. There is no notion of working hard to work up the ladder. They expect to start at the top and be making 6 figures in a year. It's sad, unrealistic and a joke. I fault their upbringing.... being told how special they were and everyone is a winner. Sorry kids it doesn't work that way in the real world.
A country that is "I got mine, screw you" is not a country that can survive, the asians have it all over us, they understand what it is to work together for the common good of society...what do that call that? Uh, socialism or something like that?
Education is not the problem!!! Tell that to me and my friends who spent thousands on college and ended up working at the local Dept store. The women on my small team alone had Master's degrees in English,Psychology and more. Why are the only jobs available to us selling toasters?
My sister has her Master's and works as a secretary as do many other women I know. The problem is a stagnant economy that started with NAFTA and has continued to our detriment.
Yes, the 99 are angry becuase of social mobility- however education isn't always the answer. There are no more blue collar jobs either. We are all feeling it.
You are so right, my daughter finally gave up and went into med school, because nothing else was availlable to women to advance because of complete lack of jobs.
You answered your own question. EVERYONE knows that English and Psyc major make peanuts. Here is some advice.. major in something that is in demand and pays you well enough to seek the american dream. It's fine to major in English, art history some other liberal arts major where there are no jobs but EXPECT to work at the lcoal Dept store when you graduate. Now, if I were you I'd go back to school to get a business or technical skill.
All thats missing is a Jimmy Carter malaise speech
My parents were solidly middle class. Born into the lower middle class, they got educations, good jobs, and moved up, just as they expected they would. They were Depression kids, and there was no way to go but up. Will this happen again? Can we look back at a period of downturn and expect upturns? This is what I see lacking today. My brother, a conservative economist, has been talking about the disappearing middle class for 30 years. And they aren't disappearing upwards. Just like our politics, we are a country becoming polarized. The old song line, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" has never been more applicable. I am a 58 year old "beached white male". Cast out of a good career 10 years ago, I am too old to start over, too young and broke to retire. I am becoming poor. I have two sons with expensive college degrees that are either unemployed or underemployed, neither using their degrees. This has always been a country of opportunity. I see this bottleneck narrowing almost daily, where upward mobility becomes more and more restricted by loss of opportunity. The struggling middle class is largely one paycheck away from bankruptcy. We are dancing on the edge of a knife, waiting for things to get better and watching them get worse.
There's no mobility because a few rich people have taken control of all the resources of the nation. Now they're fighting among themselves to reduce their number even more. This is a feeding frenzy.
I think the situation is far more complex than just education. That just falls into some of the basics you need for a healthy society and you can include health care and social programs in with that too because they can all statistically show they have a huge impact. I think our global society is going through an evolution spawned by reaching a certain breaking point.
As an X Gen, I've watched the evolution of our society and a loss to my happiness. I've lost access to the simple things like being able to afford a camper to go away on the weekends because I have a larger power bill than my parents did due to the amount of technology going; I'm paying service fees for things that computers are doing that require no human intervention; Despite the computers running fine, I have to pay large amounts of money to upgrade those computers every 2 years because MS says so; I have banks (who got bailed out!!!!) trying to convince me to borrow money when I outright tell them I am scared I won't be able to pay it back putting me in a position where I feel like I've become an indentured slave; companies are hiring "term" employees instead of permanent ones so you are always in danger of getting the axe keeping you stressed out and on your toes; and to save money things around you are being centralized costing further jobs and taking the control away from people to solve their own problems; This centralization really concerns me. It is because when you start centralizing things you have a very co-dependent system. All the other systems need to be working properly for it to work. Centralized systems rely on a cookie cutter approach where all the pieces need to look a certain way so what might be important to a region may not be important to the centralized system. If a region does need a change it becomes a labourous time consuming approach because any change made can have an impact on the entire system. Centralization makes the simple complicated.
It just feels like we've gone too far and overloaded society. We need to unburden it and that means the powerful have to start giving back, they have to stop playing games and wake up that all the power they have is just an illusion. Right now society needs an upper class that cares about the lower classes instead of trying to come up with ways to exploit them. I will go even further to say that we've almost reached the political climate that if they do not start behaving like caretakers instead of narcissists they are in risk of losing it all.
You are only powerful if people support you to be powerful. Even if politicians appeal to the babyboomers to get votes to get in, it is now the X and Y Generation who are having to do the work and they think much differently than the babyboomers so are unlikely to go along with the politics without protests. Babyboomers have the numbers, we have the networks.
The #1 reason for lack of social mobility is the breakdown of the family, not the school system The school system plays a big role, just not nearly the magnitude of the family. People place too much value in their career alone. I didn't grow up with much, but my family understood that my siblings and I were more important than making six figures. They helped me gain the confidence I needed to get into a career that I would be happy and successful in. I'm moving toward the upper 1/5 now and have started a family of my own in the process.
Yet the breakdown of the family is related to our economic system. A hundred years ago the family was the economic unit on family farms and businesses. Now corporations rule the economic system. It's systematic and sad . . . and I don't have a solution to propose except start your own family business.
Fareed, you are tossing out false statistics (California ranked #1 in education, 1972), unsupported personal opinion (Jobs was a "genius"), and irrelevant comparisons (spending on education vs. spending on prisons). You are pretending all of this is relevant factual information, and it is anything but that.
Your main point, the importance of quality education, is well taken, but you are missing the boat on the underlying cause, as is everyone else who advocates a liberal, spend more solution to the problem. These are not the causes. The cause of individual success and failure starts and ends with that individual, and the totality of their environment. When you have parents that don't value education, homes that are devoid of reading material and educated adults, you produce children who don't value education, and don't achieve, regardless of the teachers and school spending.
The overwhelmingly greatest factor in educational success is the quality of the student body. One much touted example of how much the school matters is the comparison of a charter school and public school in NY, located in the same building, showing the charter school outperforming the public school handily.
What is ignored is the bias inherent in this comparison – in that the students going to the charter school are self selected, and hence more interested in education to begin with. Then you combine this result with having classes of motivated students working together, and you get the results we see.
This in NO WAY indicates that it is the teachers, and the money spent, resulting in the improvements. It indicates that some students are simply better than others, and that when you put them together, they help one another, and when you put them with other underachievers, they are hindered, and hinder one another.
That is a problem that isn't going to be solved with money, and better teaching techniques. It's a societal problem with no easy solutions, and falsely blaming those results on teachers or money is simply flat wrong.
Who cares! Things are fine in China...and politicians secret off-shore accounts!
p.s. thank you, Bill Clinton for "opening Chinese market" to US products!
Haven't we all heard this before? How in the world can this guy blames everything on education? The inequality of life in this country came from several factors, and education should be on the very bottom of the list. During the Steve Jobs era or earlier, our world did not yet know about the idea called "OUTSOURCING" where things were still made in the US. Average Americans do not need a college degree in order to get a high paying job. Most high school graduates could go work in the manufacturing sector and got pay a decent salary where they could buy a house and raise a family. Back then, most companies offered pensions as an incentive to get workers into their companies. Our country had a people oriented philosophy, which is the total opposite of today's– profit is the only thing that matters. The increase in population and the advance in technology also effected our lives. With outsourcing and technology, less people are needed to do the same job many years ago. Take Blockbuster for an example, they went online and eliminated many of their retail stores. What happened to the minimum pay workers? With more people with average education and less average jobs, the balance is shifted. Finally, let's just say that education is partially to be blamed. Let's just say that 75% of our population is highly educated. Where will we find jobs for them? Some of our US trained computer engineers lost their jobs to the India because 2 or 3 Indian computer engineers are willing to split the salary of one well-pay US trained computer engineer. NASA had recently gave up on the space shuttle program, and what do you think happened to those engineers? In case you are not familiar with events that happened around the globe, here is another thing to check out. Russia ran into trouble when they had too many highly educated people in their country. It was so bad to a point that their government had to discourage people from going to college but instead persuaded their young citizens to go for vocational school so they stand a better chance of find a job. Therefore, it is absolutely naive to put the blame on education alone when these other factors are the real causes for our problems. US along with other developed countries created this monster called "GLOBAL ECONOMY", in which only the BIG CORPs are profiting, is ruining all our lives. And because it is GLOBAL, no single government is able stop it; it wouldn't matter who takes the WHITE HOUSE in 2012, the end result would be the same. The only way to reverse this trend is by killing "GLOBAL ECONOMY"; stop the exploitation of cheap labor in developing countries.
Too many highly educated people is not something we have to worry about now! More people may have degrees than before in our country, but they are not highly educated. My grandmother (RIP, born in 1917) with a GED was better educated than most of the college grads today.
Fix education? In Texas, we can't even FUND education. Good luck!
I haven't read all the comments but this is not a problem that was caused mainly by immigration. In our here are students of all ethnic groups who are unprepared for the workforce and for college. What is being taught in schools in the last 10 years has been dumbed down from K-12 all the way through the university. NCLB has managed to make the "test" the focus of many public schools and anything not on the test is either not taught or watered down. Science, social studies, gym, art and music all out the window at many schools.
I am teaching college freshman (at a private university) with high SAT scores who do not even know when the Civil War was fought. I learned this in 5th grade, over thirty years ago, and never forgot it. At least my current students can read and write but there are many that are flunking out of high school who are functionally illiterate. As a nation we really need to take this seriously and stop the partisan bickering and blaming. If a person is clueless about their own country and can barely fill out a job application AND we have shipped most of our manufacturing jobs overseas, where are these people supposed to work? Let's get our heads out of the sand and start making some changes before we lose another generation.
1. You do not know how to spell.
2. The curriculum is being dumbed down to cater to all the illegal immigrants who send their kids to our schools.
3. The year the Civil War started is just a useless detail. Some people waste valuable brain space memorizing that sort of information. Others have a knack for separating the grain from the chaff.
4. The problem is globalism.
Wait, did Zakaria read the Steve Jobs biography? I don't think his schooling had anything to do with his success. Jobs did not speak highly of his education. He gives way more credit to his adoptive parents and social relationships. Jobs was operating on a very different level than most people. He was a ranting crazy person who learned how to stare and/or cry to get his way!
Steve Jobs also did massive amounts of LSD. Should we start handing that out in homeroom?
Here's a solution: Make citizenship–your right to a chance at the "American Dream"–dependent on voluntary military or civic service. Want citizenship and all of the rights/responsibilities the system provides? Serve the system first. I wonder how many people would actually be willing to pay for (read: contribute to) the American Dream?
I guess we wouldn't be a free country if the rich could make us fight their wars in exchange for our God-given rights.
This is the result of greed. Men who have created a slave system that slowly drains you hopes and dreams, men who have created more barriers for those who are climbing the latter. This must stop, we must do what's right for humanity and our m other earth! We must find balance, or we will all perish! I hope this protest inspires all men, women and children to act on what's right! What is just! And that is equal rights for all! Special treatment to none! And the most important piece of all... fix our educational system! This is the key to success!
"Fixing" education requires identifying the problem. The problem is an unwillingness to be honest about the problem.
If you had a class in junior high or high school that you remember learning as painless, even fun, what was it that made it so remarkable? It was likely the teacher. You may not remember the building, the room, the equipment but you remember the teacher. Teaching is both a skill and a talent. Teaching and learning can take place anywhere...as evidenced by the educating that happened in one-room schoolhouses of earlier times.
Revamp the education curricula in the colleges. Right now they're a joke. Show teachers how to teach with the flair required to get and hold students' interest, even it it means hiring people in the performing arts to show them how it's done.
Yes, I know, it'll never happen but good teaching by talented teachers is the key to "fixing education."
The problem is though, the good teachers will still be drawn to good, wealthy districts while the poorer teachers will find jobs only in city schools. It comes down to money - why would a good teacher who COULD get a job at a quiet, safe, suburban high school take a job that pays $15,000 or more a year less at an inner city school? Until inner city schools can afford to pay good teachers, the bad ones who can't find anything anywhere else will continue to be the only ones accepting jobs there. It's sad.
Zakaria, give your job to an American
I am in the 1%. i didn't start that way but I worked hard to get here. I am 55 and retired. I work with several charitable causes and give a large sum of money away. If you want more get off your a– and earn it. If not stay home and shut the f- up.
Mia:
I think you may have a learning disability. Do you not understand that the opportunity to build wealth in this country has dramatically decreased? Do you not understand that Americans must fight and work hard to reverse this awful trend? If we don't, then we will end up being just as poor and desparate as China. The fact that you got rich does NOT mean there is not a problem with this economy.
The problem is that we have allowed our government to be controlled by the wealthy few. They have accessed our treasury, they have corrupted our laws, and they are ruining everything. They do not have our best interests in mind.
There is no education problem. There is a parenting problem.
Education is indeed the problem. I've only told everyone at school (how ironic) that it's the reason we're falling behind.
They say, "What difference will it make if I don't try in school?"
All the difference in the world. One person doesn't try, others follow, then no one is trying.
And now no one is trying in school.
So who is ruining the republic for which it stands?
I am ashamed to say it's my generation.
But where is the opportunity for all these graduates? What are they trying for? There are 100 applicants for every job.
In my opinion as a teacher, the financing of public schools with property taxes is the biggest factor in this issue. People living in wealthy suburbs pay much higher property taxes, so of course those schools have more money to work with, often with fewer students. City schools have much less to work with, so the programs, resources, and services they are able to offer students inevitably decline. Thus, students who grow up in impoverished areas receive an impoverished education, making it much harder to succeed. I have no solution to offer here; just lamenting an unfortunate truth.
My husband was born in the '70's and grew up in a very poor area of Albuquerque known as 'the war zone'. His mom was a teenager who barely spoke English (she was a German immigrant) and his dad was only a little older. They made huge sacrifices to send him to the best schools possible – he is now an engineer making a good living and achieving the American dream. Education is incredibly important, I wish all parents AND all kids would appreciate it as much as he and his parents did. I'm sad to say that most people my generation or younger expect to have the 'American Dream' handed to them on a silver platter.
This article is unfair. There is still social mobility in the United States. Millionaires and billionaires keep moving upwards and all others continue to discover what lies at the bottom.
Here is the secret. Get off your lazy a== and work for what you want. Nobody, including this worthless President is gonna give it to you. YOU HAVE TO EARN IT!!!!!
Here is the secret. Get off your a== and work for what you want. Nobody, including this worthless President is gonna give it to you. YOU HAVE TO EARN IT!!!!!
Mia:
1. You said that twice.
2. We used to have much higher social mobility. There has been a change for the worse. We should get off our butts and change that, or are you too lazy to bother?
Most Americans believed in the American Dream until about 3 years ago. Sure Bernie Madoff and other white collar crimes happened before, but when horrific events happened and actually happened to them and not to some other random person on the news, it really hit home.
The government bailed out the banks... Not the people...
What is up with that.
Umm No. The government did not bail out the banks. If you make an investment in something and it makes money its not a bailout. The government invested directly in the banks and MADE A PROFIT. In addition, if the government hadn't done so, the entire country would have suffered tremendously. And when I say suffer I mean a complete freeze of liquidity, every small business would collapse due to a lack of banking services and commercial loans. Please get an education about finance.
No, the government did not make a profit, it made a loan. A loan that We the People are expected to pay back with interest. See, they take the money out of your paycheck and give it to the banks, so the banks can buy government bonds at 1% interest, and then lend it to you at 5% interest. Of course you wouldn't need to borrow that money to begin with if they hadn't taken it out of your paycheck.
Please get an education in finance. Paying interest to a bank is worse than not paying interest to a bank, regardless of whether or not the government forced you to do it.
People I am a recent graduate with a Ph.D. in sciences and believe me there are many industrial positions out there. The problem is that we have way too many kids coming out from universities with art and business majors, which do not create any exportable goods. It s very difficult to find young american citizens with engineering and science backgrounds. When I got my Ph.D. we were less than 20 USA citizens in a program of almost 70! I do not think that we do not have educated people in this county, we just do not have what the market is looking for. So please stop blaming others for the lack of expertise that we have in critical areas. India and China are booming and their good engineers and scientists are moving back to their countries.
Nonsense. There is one reason why Americans kids don't want science/engineering degrees: It's because they already know that the jobs are being offshored. People with PhDs in science these days are earning LESS than they would have with a bachelor's degree just 20 years ago. You would have to be a complete dingbat to spend 10 years getting a degree that yields $50k/year to start.
Obviously you know nothing about the matter. Just pick up any scientific magazine and you will find out the salaries per discipline. Most of them starting in the 100,000.00! I am part of that work force and I receive calls from head hunters on months basis. Please read and learn!
Dear Please:
I am a molecular biologist. Salaries are not published in scientific magazines. The people earning $100,000/year are not fresh out of PhD school, and they live in high-cost areas. It is not worth it to get a PhD in any scientific field these days.
We have to fix the educational system. here's how you do it: Increase starting teacher salaries from $32,000 to $64,000, eliminate tenure, eliminate lifetime pensions and replace it with a 401k like the rest of us. Increase computer classes, math, sciences, art, and music. You'll attract better teachers with more education and get rid of the teachers who checked out a decade ago and now just act like zoo keepers. Increase advanced classes, children will perform at the level you demand of them. Why is education failing? because we ask children to perform at the level of the lowest common denominator, the kid who refuses to open their math book because their parents aren't involved in their lives. Sucks for them, don't make the other kids suffer and go slow.
The problem is that we have let the aristocracy in to define the premise of what used to be the American Dream.
It used to be that if you had a good idea and a hard work ethic, then it didn't matter where you came from. Now, if you don't come from the "right" school in the "Right" pedigree and have the "Right" contacts, then no matter how good you are, it just doesn't matter. Just like in medieval times.
OCCUPY WALL STREET IS ACORN organized. remember Acorn? OBAMAs little organization.
I "bought" the get-a-good-education sloganeering, earning a B.A. in 1968, M.Ed. in 1970, and M.A. in 1978 . . . and have never been able to get anywhere. People with accents, people with only high-school diplomas, were always ahead of me. I do not begrudge them, but I sure as hell begrudge all the time and money I spent studying for credentials that did me zero good. If I had it to do all over again, I would learn a trade or take up farming. My liberal arts achievements were worthless. Higher education is an industry too; this was not covered in any of the courses I took, all in brick-and-mortar universities of, not distinction, but long standing and indisputable legitimacy. .
You can educate all you like, but as long as it cost one tenth as much to hire someone overseas it won't matter. Every kind of job you can think of is being shipped overseas, even surgery.
Indeed
Exactly.
Isn't it funny how now that so many schools are run in such an "enlightened" and pc way, that they are not doing even romotely as well at enabling the less well off to move up the social ladder as schools did SIXTY YEARS ago.
Have you ever stopped to think that there are limits for even those less well off? The brain is a large muscle just like all of those muscles a football player uses, but even a football player can only run so fast, hit so hard, or throw a ball so far. Those football limits are higher for blacks, for instance, than for whites. Nobody argues that. Why can't it be the same way with the brain?
This article is nothing more and nothing less than a promotion for a television program. SHAME ON CNN for employing such tactics.
Trot out Fareed with lofty ideas. I don't see anything getting fixed anytime soon with the government we have now.
It's not rocket science, it's all about race. White Europeans and Asians are the predominant brains of the world now and always have been. More efforts need to go towards educating those who "can" learn instead of those who "can't" the science & math needed to advance civilization. Call it racism, call it whatever you want. I call it the "way it is". Don't believe it take a look at the more successful states and how similar they are to Finland. Conversely, look to those states with very high populations of "African Americans" and/or Illegal Aliens. Their IQ is lower as a whole race as compared to those white descendents of white Europeans. Pouring money into them is for the most part, a waste. A few succeed, but for every one that does there are dozens that don't.
Actually no... remember India, Egypt, Persia, Peru...
Oh please. There are plenty of white people with low IQs. There are also non-whites who are geniuses.
Sorry but this is such B.S. – to say that there is some how a lack of opportunity in this country. Proof is simple – look at success (in terms being up to go up the social ladder) of certain immigrant groups – Chinese, Russians, etc. They all settle very nicely. Reason is simple – they work hard and don't mind getting their hands dirty in the process (getting dirty jobs that is). The true issue is that current generation is completely incapable of humility and consider morning starbucks and ipad an absolute necessity. No mercy – this generation will suffer and the next will learn from its downfall. No other way around. Instead of complaining of over crowded schools – focus on stories of immigrants (most certainly both legal and illegal) that made it with just a few bucks to their name.
In the mid 90s I graduated from college and could not find a job. Instead of whining about it and blaming others I looked for whatever work I could find. I was not too proud and no work was beneath me. I worked two jobs one as a janitor which helped me get money to pay for Nursing Assistant Training. I ended up working as a CNA for sometime, not a job I envisioned myself in. In addition, I worked double shift and pretty much every weekend to make ends meet. Its what I had to do. However, I did it, and as a result other career opportunities opened up. I am now a nurse with a Masters degree and doing quite well. Currently there are many CNA jobs out there and others like it. People need to get rid of their preconceived expectations and go out and really work. A college degree was never a guarantee so get over it and roll up your sleaves!!!!
Economic mobility does not happen in a day (unless one wins the lottery). It takes years. Sometimes decades. The problem in the minds of our misguided occupier youth is that they don't understand the concept of patience. Not surprising with the instant information cell phone/internet world we now have. Long term thinking is all but gone. The connection of the dissatisfaction of the occupiers to borrowing more than a person or a country can pay back is definite, if one has the patience to see it. Cut government spending. It is the only way.
We already have too much education. It has gotten to the point where you have to have a college degree and ten years experience just to get a basic, middle-class job (even though the tasks of the job don't really require the degree). The problem is that we are offshoring our labor, while importing millions of illegal immigrants. No amount of education is going to undo that.
Try to get an NYU graduate to clean rooms in a hotel and/or pick tomatoes... The illegal immigrants are keeping inflation low, but I agree with you, I think that we should force hotels and farms to hire american citizens only even if that means to pay 3 to 5 times more in groceries and USA made goods, the problem is that the vast majority of the hypocrites that are against illegal immigrants working in our farms and hotels are not willing to pay the price...
Yeah, but it should be no problem to get high school dropouts to clean hotel rooms and pick tomatoes. The price would not go up 2-5x; it would be more like 20%. Our entire economy would be way better off, IMO.
Then leave.
it's fun saying things wnen you're gettin paid to do it. money makes you have a soul, right? makes you have important things to offer. money is good. god should make a bank here called the first bank of christ.
If you send the illegals home and the kids that don't speak English, we could make great strides in Education. Nothing is free anymore and the sooner you LIberals figure it ouit, the faster we can get our Country back. It is a bunch of crap!
Force the farm owners and hotel chains to send them back, then get ready to pay 3 to 5 more times of what you pay right now for USA made goods. And shame on you if you decide to buy chinese and other cheap imported goods. At least a great percent of the illegals salaries is spent here moving our own economy. Please do the math.
The price will not go up 3-5x. It will go up by 20%, and will MORE than make up for that with lower unemployment, higher wages, and less welfare.
The problem is not immigration, when regarding education. The problem is the QUALITY OF THE EDUCATION IS PATHETIC.
It has many causes, yes. It has many issues laced within it, yes. But to fix education, we have to accept the fact that the American Education system is the CORPSE of an idea.
Maybe, but the single biggest improvement you could make would be to stop illegal immigration.
we have less than 60 summers, winters, springs, and falls left. 60 more times to experience the leaves fall off the trees.. to sled, to picnic.. what will we do when we are rotting in the grave? you will rot like me.
I think you are overlooking the reasons for why we are lagging behind Europe. We have underlying problems which has harmed how well we educate ourselves. Yes the gap between the rich and poor is a big one. And I think that people are right to protest "The Man". They really can't put their finger on it. I personally think that the top 1%, and I'm serious really pays zero in income taxes. Thats in spirit. Thats as a group. Of course entertainers and sports athletes do. But take bankers. Top 1% right. Did they contribute to the deficit or did they reduce it? Easy answere. Hedge fund managers. They pay 15% tax rate with loop hole. You don't think they can manipulate the markets by 4% or better a quarter. Look at the yo yo market we have. Of course they can. So they pay zero. In fact their ability to manipulate is worth more than the 15% rate they pay. CEOs. My god. Would the little guy that owns stock agree with the pay they make. No. This is the guys at the top paying each other. Incestuous. This country actually needs capitalism. Invest in themselves. 401ks could be a great thing but is limited. Education. My opinion though. Costs to high. Why? To much money thrown at it. Cap lending. End pell grants. Make people work hard. Prices will come down if the money train stops. I know a lot of people don't buy it, but once upon a time I took classes myself and payed for them and I wasn't rich. Now everywhere expensive. Why. To many places for people to get money. Its not cheap.
I agree with you, John.
Fareed Zakaria,
America is not about equal outcomes; that is called communism.
Americans of European descent are fast becoming minorities in a number of areas of the country. In San Jose,CA.there are great numbers of people of Asian descent and then, close by in the Central CA Valleys there are great numbers of people of Mexican and Latin descent..That's the facts and they're not gonna change and we have to find ways to deal with the facts rather than scream and yell about immigrants. People who just sit and demonize minorities are as much of the problem as the immigrants are. They make it well nye impossible to come up with some sensible solutions that would benefit us all.
Americans are the people who make immigration policy. Our current policy is to flood the labor market with as many noncitizens as possible, so as to devalue labor. That has not worked well for us. We should change that.
You're right Miss, but the Americans making those policies are the politicians put in place by moneyied interests.
Now you know what I meant when saying EUrope is a Mac...:) and why the TED tv blip on inequality holds true and why people are rising up as they now know the truth of the american dream and that we need to face reality. The american dream is in "socialized" europe. There is a great country, people and opportunity still here in the US, but it isn't the best country at or for everything in the world, but that truth is self evident. We just need to quit dreaming and wake up. Maybe the flag waving, streets are paved with gold, american dream propaganda led us astray into believing something that was never real and it continues to inhibit us now. It needs to die so we can get real growth, real opportunity and real progress instead of propagandized hoopla to make us think things are better.... "do not be deceived". I grew up with my mom saying the exact same thing about education in Ireland and Europe, that they were much ahead of US in terms of education and that has been since the 1930's when she went to school in Ireland. A grade school education in Ireland was virtually the equivalent of a high school education here. In 1960, with only a grade school education, my mom was a supervisor of 25 employees at American Express in Manhattan. Never mind grade school or even high school, a basic college education couldn't garner that job today. While I don't believe anything should be guaranteed, we can't hope and dream for a better life based on beliefs, if those beliefs don't line up with reality, which is what we are witnessing today. The reality is that the dream is getting farther and farther away from the propaganda selling it. Get those two closer aligned to a realistic view and you will have less social strife and inequality. In other words, stop lying to US.
We already know the truth, so it makes the continued lies even greater and it makes us even madder and feeling disenfranchised.
Thjere goes fareed shilling for obama's ugly populist message...
note to fareed...both obama and cain are proof positive that mobility is alive and well and with enough drive, ANYONE can achieve what they want in life...
fareed could not be more wrong...but then again, he is a lapdog for obama.
I don't really buy the social mobility stats put forth in the original article. If there's upward mobility by some, then others must be moving downward, right? The problem would seem to be economic stagnation. A growing economy raises all ships, so to speak. In a stagnant econony, one upward step must be matched by a downward step somewhere.
The funny thing about the American dream is, you have to be asleep to believe it. I have traveled all over the world and have met thousands of people from all walks of life. However, if asked where one could find the most unrepentant ignoramus' I would say in the good ol' USA. Just look at the Republican slate for the presidency, it is chock full of people who take religion far more seriously than decent education and it really shows in their performances. Their candidacies are laughable and terrifying simultaneously. University is not for everybody. Most people are wasting their time and money. I know plenty of people who got degrees they never used and paid a lot of money for 4 years of drinking and making out.
I agree with you, Donaldbain.
You don't get a degree for drinking and making out, or at least, you shouldn't.
CJ, you don't have to buy the stats, but they are fact: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/richard_wilkinson.html
The American dream is not a guarantee of comfort, it's a guarantee of opportunity.
What you do with that opportunity is entirely up to you.
Occupy movement is more a part of the problem than a part of the solution. Go back to school and study economics and history.
But if everyone spends all their time going back to school over and over again, then when will we have time to produce anything?
Fareed has again misunderstood what is happening. Hundreds of students went to school with Steve Jobs, yet they did NOT become billionaires. Fareed's half baked theory about education being better then, flies in the face of several important realities. Literally 35% if the information that is considered essential even existed in the 70's. Technology skills that are vital to employment today did not exist, medical knowledge has grown to encompass an understanding of the human genome, in short there is MUCH more to learn than ever before. The problem is not education but a change in the view of opportunities. Opportunities to work and succeed are as available today as at any other time. People have become "to good" to take the jobs that their fathers once did. If they don't get to the top, then they blame the system rather than their own poor work ethic. The OWS are a bunch of spoiled liberal brats that are unwilling to do what it takes to make a life for themselves. Its much easier to say their failure is someone else's fault. Pathetic
There is far less opportunity today than there was in the 1970s. Manufacturing has been offshored. Science has been offshored. Customer service has been offshored. IT has been offshored. In short, the individuals who built large companies in the 1970s have offshored the productive capacity of America. They took that opportunity away from the younger generation.
Awesome perspective! I agree.
You are a defeatist. You and I will never be the same. Enjoy your hopeless existence and view while the rest of us try to make a better world for ourselves.
We have the people who passed NAFTA and Free Trade agreements into law to thank for making it easier to offshore jobs. Globalization is ruining America and the West. Have a look at whats going on with the Greece and the Euro if you dont believe me.
That's where we agree, Getreal.
Dave, I think you have misunderstood with Fareed was trying to say. Yes there is a lot more to learn in any given field, the the student needs to pick a field and learn what there is in that field in order to make a decent living.
Get government out of the way of education and first teach individuals to take accountability for their actions or inactions. Only thing we are guaranteed is an opportunity which is being sabotaged by our current administration. Occupiers should educate themselves on what they are looking to accomplish with a strategy, not just being part of the socialistic path they are trying to lead our country to with the help of unions, socialists, progressives and anarchists. God bless the USA!
This Occupy group in nothing more than a collection of worthless liberals hoping for a hand out. Time to arrest all of the Occupy trash and move on.
Arrest them for trying to address the problem. That's brilliant.
Arrest them for the laws they are breaking now before they make things even worse for innocent and honest citizens.
The innocent and honest citizens are rising up against the corrupt Wall Street theives. If we didn't, then we'd be doormats.
Teachers less quality now than in the 70's!?!?!? Please. Let's get to the root of the problem. Parents and guardians are to blame. Not teachers. If parents and guardians do not particate in a child's learning, no reform of any kind will change anything. A child will carry their families values into school. No values for learning from mom or dad? Guess what. You got it. Child will not care what the under paid, over worked, REFORMED teacher has to say. My wife is a public school teacher. I see this every day.
Zakaria is the worst kind of journalist - bent on destroying the American way of life - with his MAUDLIN third-world view. Because he has - exactly what kind of solutions????????????????????????
Interesting, but your article makes no sense. If education was the driving force for success, why aren't colleges leading the way as the countries most successful businesses? They aren't. Why are there so many OWS protestors with expensive degrees and no jobs? Upward mobility comes from the freedom to achieve things in business and society, and to be paid for that achievement. More government influence, interference and taxation is what is prohibiting success. Education is a wonderful byproduct of a successful, affluent society. However, it is not the engine that makes the society successful.
The other poster in here had a point when social mobility was booming in the 1950s and 1960s we did not have as many college educated people. Its the liberal professors who fill the students heads with their own lying crap and political agendas that are inflaming our nations problems.
What kind of a President doesnt condemn violence and rioting in major cities? A lousy one. If the tea party were protesting and rioting like the OWS movement Obama would be bombarding us with speeches daily denouncing said movement. We all know Obama and his ilk in ACORN are behind the OWS movement - so does the average voter. We want our streets safe from this cancerous trash that infests our streets and public parks like a sickening mold or mildew. The average voter wants the streets safer for their children. If Obama will not provide us this we will elect someone who will. Mark my words.
Did you mean to say "globalist professors"? They come in both flavors – liberal and conservative.
No I meant commie liberal ones and anti-semetic islamist sympathizers.
We need to find ways of encouraging students to understand their own ability to be good at something, rather than churning out scientists are engineers.
I feel human being are not robots to be considered to just run economies. This way you will create a disaster.
Human being needs to be in touch with something very valuable within himself, life.
He needs to be in touch with his own nature to be effective in anything, he cannot be made up into something.
We are a country of immigrants. It is a red herring to say that we lost our edge all because of illegal immigration.
We really need to look in the mirror. As a country we do not like to work or study work hard. It is great to have it easy. We expect to have it easy. Look at our population. We have become fat and fatter. We whine more and more.
Typical. Read history. After a great generation or a series of great leader(s), those who follow are often a big disappointment............
It is always bad to flood the market with more workers than there are jobs. Regardless of our history, we currently have way too many immigrants, both legal and illegal. They are being brought here for the sole purpose of devaluing labor.
Perhaps CNN ought to give Mr. Zakaria's job to some more-deserving American citizen.
What you might be failing to grasp, Wyo, is that immigrants in the past wanted to become part of America. Immigrants now want to make America part of Mexico. I"m sure you've seen clips of Mexicans in the news, shooting at one another, laying around in the streets and bleeding. Frankly, I'm not anxious to join them.
Not only that but their will be a land grab.
http://polymontana.
com/2011/10/07/hb-1505-is-the-greatest-federal-land-grab-in-history-part-1/
Finally a eastern elite gets it. The lack of social mobility and the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the upper class and its use to bribe the lower classes for political support is the problem Education, and the complicity of the media is tool used to achieve this end. The Tea Party folks are mad about the same thing. they just see it from another perspective.
Yes. The Tea Party understands Wall Street simply does what our current government allows. They also comprehend we are able to change government. They arent led around by the nose like a cow by organizations like ACORN and organized unions full of democrats.
You're not going to fix the education system by letting all of mommy and daddy's little snowflakes do whatever they want whenever they want.
Where are these hardworking Americans? I'm 30 and haven't met many in my generation whether I was working blue collar, white collar, or academia.
Even at 50+ I know this answer. the young ones are awake and more awaking everyday to the lie of capitalism ...its not hard for a child who listens to "any" of these presidential candidates speak and realize themselves to be smarter. The Young ones all over the planet are standing in the streets and changing the old systems. get ready for a new landscape of politics and social change. its gonna be exciting time to be alive.
By the time you get to the real problem this country will no longer be in existance. Corperate and Personal Greed top my list . THe rich have stacked the deck against the american worker and it is their greed and political pandering that are to blame. Wall Street has purchasec our government, paid for with political donations and big fat tax dodges usefull only to the upper 1%. This mess has nothing to do with Education. even with a good education you can't buy a job out there. Charles Bowen Solomon Stone
The real problem was elected in 2008. Before that our problems were pretty minor in comparison.
You are correct, Mr. Charles Bowen Solomon Stone.
the pendulum swings both ways and now its swinging back to the age of real wisdom and less intellectual garbage talkers. what many so-called intellectuals call "facts" are in reality "limits" in being, even science proves this concept. The sleepers are mechanical in nature totally unaware they're slaves. they easily confuse worth with wealth ..people are not defined by the job they do ...but the quality they live by ... its not what they make ...its what they believe that is the most important part of being.
The comments here are just patently bizarre.
A few points:
First, to those who seem to think that the current economic system is a matter of worker "laziness" in the US, worker productivity is actually at an all-time high. How could this be happening in a population of lazy workers? Further, workers are working more hours, take less vacation, and fewer sick days at any time in about the last 60 or so years. The idea that americans are just "lazy" is a ridiculous lie.
Second, when a large percentage of americans were represented by unions, average income rose. It is partly the demise of unions and the "race to the bottom" for wages in the third world that has decimated the workforce – especially the working class – though at this point corporations are now outsourcing even middle class IT and customer service positions. There is nothing to stop them, as we have a government that is quite literally bought by the wealthiest corporate oligarchs in the country, and that does NOT serve the people of the US. Period.
Finally, I would ask Zakaria and others, what difference does education make when you are competing with people who are being paid $10 a day, are living in an ecological disaster area, and have no worker rights whatsoever? If China starts demanding higher wages, the corporations will begin outsourcing to Africa, where $2 a day would be a windfall. Why is there never any mention of the pathetic working and environmental conditions we are competing against? Is is really a coincidence? Or really just the result of a lazy and uneducated workforce? Seriously?
This column is ridiculous, and so are the comments following it. Americans have become incapable of observing reality and then coming to logical conclusions. And it's seriously pathetic, because rather than attack an inequitable system that rewards worker abuse, they attack their fellow citizens for "laziness." A pathetic country indeed.
Most of those comments are being made by people who are so desparate, they are willing to comment in exchange for pay. That's why they don't make any sense.
Take a FAIR look at public schools before you bash them. Schools in California reflect their communities. Poor ghetto areas have terrible schools. Better teachers simply won't work there. Schools in middle-class and upper-class areas have excellent public schools. In my middle-class area, my son just graduated from high school with an excellent education. Frankly, expectations and class opportunities were so exceptional that we worried there wasn't enough time for him to have any fun. With AP courses and community college courses available, the sky was the limit. He is now attending a top university, holding his own against top students from around the world. He's no genius, just a graduate of one of our fine public high schools. Frankly, his high school preparation was much, much better than mine was 40 years ago, and my education was excellent for the time.
Congratulations to your son, I hope you'll both be able to survive the fast paced revolution on the event horizon. The new educational landscape will change towards personal growth and technical training in sustainable living. the global hug has squeezed us tight. Good luck!
You're lucky, Ken. A lot of good students just quit out of bordem due to the excessive numbers on non-English speakers in their classes.
We need to start taxing churches as well
Churches are taxing enough!
humor if you get it.
Great idea, Albie, an idea that is long past due.
With community college as cheap and accessable as it is in the United States there is no excuse for a poorer citizen complaining of lack of social mobility. The lack of social mobility and the ignorance of poorer children is the complete fault of the parents. There is no excuse other than laziness and ignorance not to go to college and that is the fault of the parents. If you dont have the ability to properly raise an intelligent, functioning member of society than dont have children!
Pardon me but you make no sense at all. Without a Masters in College or a doctorate - you wont earn what those people make. You sir have no grasp of the way the world works. There are jobs out there for qualified persons. The answer isnt to accept a lesser education. If you do – you get what you deserve. Everyone cant be a doctor or earn what they make. Guess what? The world needs ditch diggers too.
I worked my way up from the bottom. I grew up in a very poor St. Loius neighborhood. I bustewd my ass in community colleged to finaly get in a decent 4 year school. Now I have my masters in Chemical Engineering. If your to lazy or unitelligent to anything more than a pitty ditchdigger then I have no sympathy for you. Survival of the fittest maybe your parents failed you
When the federal government took over education in America the nation suffered a tremendous blow............it will take decades for the recovery and control should return to the states.........
With the possible exception of the military, the federal government screws up everything it touches, including education.
None of you are understanding the point of this article. Sure America is one of the most literate countries but we do not VALUE education. As each new generation comes along the value of education decreases. My generation would much rather watch MTV 24/7 than spend minimal time studying for a test.If going to school was a choice determined by kids the true colours would show. In other countries, 3rd world, children walk 30+ kilometers to get to school, Then they work double. UNtil americans start valuing education nothing will change. We will stay in decline.
PS. I realize there are a select few who value education and this rant does not apply to those special individuals.
Baby Boomer?
"The American Dream is all about social mobility – the sense that anyone can make it."
But the Left has convinced generations of Americans that they don't have to work to "make it," that "society" is somehow obligated to just give them whatever it takes to "make it," and that the "rich" are, or ought to be, required to fulfil that obligation.
The opportunity to build wealth in this country has drastically declined, unless you're already a member of the 1%. There is a systemic problem that can only be addressed with a systemic solution. The problem is corporatism.
I hear much talk about teachers and new teaching techniques. I hear nothing about giving children a compelling reason to want to learn and do well. How about a simple statement to the elementary school children, for instance: "Each of you is very important. You are America's future. Children/students/pupils that sat in your chairs before you who learned what we will teach you made the medicines that make you feel better, television to watch, cell phones to call friends, computers to enjoy and many other things that you and your friends and relatives use.. Learning is important. It will help you do good things for yourself and your friends and your family. You are important and we will help you learn."
Or some such statement to give children a reason to learn.
What good is education when professionals earn less and less over time. Everyone touts "go to school, become an "X". Due to rising medical costs, cost of living, 75k today is more like 50K years ago. Of course these rising costs only hurt the middle class and the poor. More and more you see companies posting record profits, but their employees have stagnant wages and long hours. Some people still cling to the idea of "go work hard and start your own business." Yeah, have you seen the failure rate on those? The "job creators" are hoarding the cash, and just like the sketch on The Daily Show, they scream: "you share in our success" but: "the money is all mine!"
Right. Without opportunity, the education is not worth what you pay for it.
I agree with CorneredTigere. The VALUE of education is critical. We are spending more money on those above 50 than those under 50. Look at what is being cut as the result of the poor economy. Education. Kids are going to school 4 days a week in some cases. Compare that to other countries who value education. Students spend more time in school and the curriculum is more challenging.
I agree with some of the writers here that many American workers are not lazy. We are however are not pushing robust educational standards and no amount of hard work is going to compensate for an under-educated workforce. We can work hard but those with higher educations will simply out perform us. That is what we are facing and it is not pretty.
Education is useless in the US now. Most of the population is better educated then previous generations, but it doesn't equal jobs.. because why would anyone pay $60-70k for a well educated US engineer when you can hire an equally educated indian engineer for $5k? This whole focus on education is a lie.. it's the outsourcing stupid.
Yup. DK is correct.
I have to disagree. Personally I feel like I'm in full control of my financial mobility. It's a "Science" really. People need to empower themselves, take responsibility, and stop blaming others for their problems. That's a good place to start.
You're right. We should take responsibility for fixing our broken system. For instance, we should put a cap on campaign contributions, thereby minimizing corporate corruption of our government, and making this country a more equal-opportunity place.
Zakaria is off base again. I know lots of people who've moved up the socioeconomic ladder. College is available to an unprecedented percentage of young people, as it should be. The last few years have been very tough. But there are always tough years. If we can elect a new president, we can move forward and capitalism can keep giving more and more people a chance to do very well for themselves.
We have been electing a "new President" every four years since long before I was born. As long as Congress and the President are bought and paid for by the 1% (and their lobbyists), then things will never get better. Social mobility is way down in this country. That is a systemic problem caused by corporate corruption of our government.
Let's put a cap on campaign contributions. Let the people decide what they want. Let the vote matter more than the dollar.
Education has always been the standard which separates the have's and have not's since as far back as recorded history. I've known this since I was a child. I am older than Steve Jobs, but you cannot just talk about Steve Jobs like he is typical of anyone past of present. Out society failed our youth in terms of education. It failed it in the 70's too. There is nothing new under the sun with this topic.
Go home, Fareed. Zakaria was born in Mumbai (then Bombay), Maharashtra, India, to a Konkani Muslim family.[3] His father, Rafiq Zakaria, was a politician associated with the Indian National Congress and an Islamic scholar. His mother, Fatima Zakaria, was for a time the editor of the Sunday Times of India. Please – go home.
"...California's public schools are a disaster..." Are readers aware that Kansas City, MO closed 50% of all it's public schools, and as of last month the ENTIRE public school district in Kansas City has been stripped of it's accreditation! This means you may or may not be accepted to a university if you graduate from a public high school in Kansas City. Of course the students most effected by this are poor African American and Latinos who live in the inner city and can't afford the excellent private schools. These lack of mobility and education issues are AMERICAN problems, not to be blamed on a specific class or ethnic group or teachers etc. If we as AMERICANS do not work together to solve these problems the country will simply implode. We all need to work together to ensure that Equal Opportunity for all continues to exist in America or we will all suffer the consequences. "We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo
Ho many of those "latinos" are actually illegal immigrants on welfare? If they were sent back to their own countries, then your school system might be less poor.
So what we have here is an immigrant from india, that comes here to study and then spend his life thinking and criticizing.
he has worked for PBS, CBS, ABC. he went to harvard. he worked for time and newsweek. he worked for CNN and with george stephapotomus. you see anything balanced here? He writes books and talks. This helps us how? he approved of the war in iraq, but then denied it and criticized it (hypocrite).
after 9/11 he tried to blame the victim. "why they hate us". wait.. us? you're from india.
he blasted the surge in iraq-which worked. then admitted he miscalculated. not the first nor last time this liberal miscalculated.
he endorsed oblama – way to go loser. the worst thing that's ever happened to our country. If you had not endorsed him you could have "saved or created" a better america.
and finally, let's look at some facts based on economics, and data. what creates an american dream is the right to earn and own property, to have a free capitalistic society and to have a nation that can afford what it promises (read the book 'Creating Modern Capitalism'). so I really think he should rewrite this and instead of tapping into his liberal mind to do some research and report that the american dream is dying because we have a president that was elected based on his color who focuses on the wrong things and spends his time blaming, while spending taxpayers money on his pet projects (run by his donors)...and killing our spirit by telling us how bad things are and blaming others (instead o fixing). maybe this liberal hypocrite coudl do something to contribute to things instead of just writing books and talking BS>
btw, here's one way to move up – work hard, stop blaming, find solutions, build consensus, be intelligent. i wish our president had one of these going for him. we'd all be better off.
The problem is globalism. You can work as hard as you want, but as long as there's a person in China who can pay their bills off of $10/day, then your boss is going to fire you and hire a Chinese person instead. We should bring back those old tariffs that once served us so well.
Ah, Fareed Zakaria is right, I finally understand why both the Danes and Swedes live in the two greatest countries in the world. How could I have missed it? The depth and wisdom evinced in this man's theories is amazing. Why next he will be theorizing that the Muslim countries are what the United States Should be modeling itself after. Bless you Fareed Zakaria
The GOP does not want an educated population because a population not trained in critical analysis is easier to manage. They - and some democrats - have been cutting aid to education for 35 years or so. Now we have seen the end result, a population that sat passively while the carpet was pulled out from under it. OWS is a sign that people are beginning to wake up.
LOL!! what are you smoking? the federal govt runs education and it's failing. like the post office, solyndra, amtrak, GM, etc.
this has nothing to do with GOP vs others... but with wanting what is right for the country. it's not a conspiracy, as you think.
Critical analysis would include knowing that edcuation spending has increased immensely in the last few decades. Who could I be referring to? Yes in the last year or two there have been some layoffs but for decades there has been an increase. Also the school expenditures are overwhelmingly represented in local and state budgets . The $77 Billion for the Federal Dept of Education is only a very small fraction of the local and state budgets .
I live in a small town and was employed at the school district. This year me and my wife lost our job due to budget cuts. Schools in California should be purchasing up to date text books and computer programs to teach our students, but the local school board and superintendent spend the money the way they see fit.
It was reported in the Fresno Bee a few years ago that our Superintendent was receiving over $180,000.00 year salary for less than 3000 students. I was appalled and made a comment in the Fresno Bee. Two weeks later there was a report in the Fresno Bee showing salaries for Superintendents of California Schools and it showed that our superintendent was one of a few that had not received a raise in over two years and his annual salary was $140,000.00.
There was also an article in the Merced Sun Star that our superintendent reported student population was at an all time high and reported our town was the fastest in population growth in Merced County.
I know for a fact that families were moving from our town by the dozens because the farmers were not receiving the water to grow crops. I also found out that our superintendent that reported he only receives 140,000.00 per year salary, also forgot to report that he receives a bonus every year in the amount of 25,000.00 – 50,000.00.
I believe the State of California needs to have a salary cap for school districts and that way money going to education will be spent on education and not on Superintendent bonuses. The State should not let the schools be in charge of conducting an estimate on the number of obese children in California as you will see below.
I received a letter from the school stating that they were going to be conducting physicals to check the number of obese kids in the district. I was not worried because my two kids plays sports and are lean and fit. Some time later we received letters about our sons physical and their findings and they stated that our children were obese and guidelines we should follow. I then called our doctor and he said that the school findings are wrong and stated that the schools report a high number of obese children so they can receive more funding from the state.
Well, Guess Who, I guess that says it all.
WE can make a comparison of prison system in CA vs, education system ...... GUESS WHO wins ?
, I regret that Fareed neglected to make any comparisons with your neighbor, Canada. We followed Korea and Finland in the PISA results and yet we have similarities of history, diversity , length of school day and school year. We have had for decades more immigrants per capita than any other country in the world and our city of Toronto has been declared the most multicultural city in the world by the United Nations, Not only did Canada rank fourth of the 65 nations in the study but yet again , more importantly, the gap in achievement between the students from higher income families and low income families was the narrowest of any nation, confirming this incredible achievement from previous PISA studies. Higher than either Finland or Korea!
Further while the US and UK attract their teachers from the bottom third of university graduates as mentioned re USA, we continue to attract teachers from the top third of graduates.. And our acceptance rate is often one in twenty. As well, Canada has the highest post secondary attendance rates of. any nation. Not mentioned was the financing of schools. Unlike many jurisdictions in the USA students are funded equally across each province. A child in inner city of Toronto is assigned the same amount as a student in a wealthy suburban neighbourhood outside the city. For example In Ontario every student regardless of location is financed with the same dollar formula and then boards are adjusted for factors such as transportation, special needs and levels of poverty. and yet our total costs per student are well below yours. I think it is a pity that your viewers did not have the opportunity to see comparisons with a neighbor with very similar conditions, yet achieved such different results.
Jerry
Jerry Diakiw I am a former superintendent of schools outside Toronto and I currently teach in the Faculty of Education at York University
Good comment Jerry. Perhaps that would have upset Americans because they don't think about us being so different – especially if they watch Fox. (Maybe this is like the medicare debate.) If so many Americans don't know what other nations are doing, they assume everything is fine in their own country. Insularity leads to smugness. Canada does a lot of things quite well; perhaps Americans should check us out. Observation, analysis, regulation where it makes sense, egalitarian ideals. I do like the Khan Academy approach however and would like to see more self-driven learning via laptops and the internet. Bright kids helping others learn is great. We can always challenge ourselves throughout our lives. There are so many tools to learn, so many books to read......
Dear Mr. Zakaria,
I sincerely enjoyed your reporting on American education. However, having had the opportunity to put two children through the American school system and watch the performance of their friends, I feel you failed to recognize the most significant reason that children in American under perform. The big problem is not the teachers, or the school system but its the parents inability to cantrol access to electronic media that distracts the children from their studies. American children face the greatest level of distraction then any students anywhere. From TV, to the internet, to facebook, to texting, mobil phones, to dvds, to iPod, to iTunes, to video games, to Gameboys and on and on, American children are bombarded by distractions. They do not have the time to concentrate on learning especially as concepts become more complex. To keep up my chidrens grades I eventually had to impose electronic media bans. But this is very hard as restrictive bans are hard to impose on mediums that maximize access and sell product by 24/7 to young teens with spending money. How can a parent allow his child to maximize the learning capability of the computer when it can be abused by downloading video games. While parents are the first line of defense in this regard thay are over whelmed and outnumbered and don't even understand all the mediums their children are distracted by. I am surprised that Bill Gates whose Microsoft created the XBox live, a game system that has destroyed the academic efforts of more children in the US because they have become addicted to playing it, can't see the real underlying reason that chidren in the US are dropping out. I have seen more children who have failed academically due to addiction to XBox live then from any other factor. I encourage you to look into this. Go into a upper income suburban school system and look at the correlation between students who fail and the level of electronic medium distration they were distracted by and you will see the root of the problem. Track the increase in electronic media access by children and the decline in test grades and you will see the correlation. Find a way to help parents to easily give access to the educational aspects of the internet and eliminate the distraction of the entertainement media and you will see a dramatic increase in education in the United States. Trust me on this as I have seen it up close for the last eight years. Please keep up the good work as you are one of the few perceptive and honest reporters in media today.
As a former teacher who walked away in disgust I feel compelled to comment. There are some terrific ideas out there, such as the Khan academy model, but they will not work until we recognize the roadblocks. The first is the ever growing class size. There are so many highly trained teachers with all the tools to guide students who are LD, ELL, GATE and a host of other needs, but simply cannot accomplish it with 40+ kids in the room. Yes, 40. Second, until we shine a light on the idiocy of a unionized system that refuses to clean its own house we cannot implement new programs. There are too many teachers who refuse to learn new skills, acknowledge their own weaknesses and challenges or admit they just don't like teaching. They demean the profession for all the good teachers. Please, union members, admit, not all of the teachers belong or should stay. Stop protecting them, protect the children and the rest of the good, caring teachers!
Wrong. Fareed's fundamental idea is wrong, that "Education is the engine of mobility. " Before education can offer a way to better jobs, someone has to first create those jobs. It is the decline in jobs of all types that is suffocating the American economy and social mobility. Witness the high unemployment rate among current college grads. The fact that non grads are even worse off is irrelevant. Focusing on education is a distraction from the need to focus on what is really the problem. It is escapism.
hahah ... my comments on comparing the prison system with education system is not published yet... So sad ............
As an educator, I like the balanced presentation Farid Zakaria did. I especially find Diane Ravitch remarks enlightening, whereas Bill gates seems in the cloud.
I wish if anybody can find a correlation between the following and the declining state of the schools:
- The time grades changed from numerical to letters.
- The time social promotion became the rule.
- The time that majors were dropped, the time one size fits all was adopted, and the decline in technical education.
In my opinion these three factors affected drastically education. Let's not forget the inflation of grades. Graduation should be earned and not given. Educators have the dual duty: to Educate and to Reward the students by promoting them. We need to be honest toward our students and not to give them cheap dishonest positive reinforcement and rewards.
One more thing, the start of the presentation about the number of high school graduates and college graduates makes one think that this is the only measure for success.
But the good thing with Americans compare to EU is that they have polished and used talent to become superpower. EU remains far behind to do so...
I loved this show, and found most of it spot on.
My one beef, and I figured that if anyone would pick up on it, it's Zakaria – which tells me either you have to have been a teacher to understand this, or Zakaria had to work so darn hard in an elite Indian school that he's blind to it:
KIPP, while successful, works its teachers to the bone. Those guys work. easily, at the very minimum 60 hours per week. They are always on call with their cell phones if a kid needs help with their homework.This means most teachers there last a few years before they decide they really do want a life outside their job. Also, kids who don't fit the mold can be asked to leave. These two elements make this model unsustainable on a large scale.
The U.S. will need to hire many more teachers to bring their student loads down to a manageable size. And pay them on par with engineers and lawyers. Public high school teachers today often have 125-175 students on their semester rosters. While their private counterparts have 75. I had 187 one year as a teacher in Chicago. There is a physical limit to the number of 5-page papers a person can grade well. An online curriculum with teachers as guides on the side as opposed to sages on the stage might help with this a bit, but a teacher's total student load still greatly effects the number of students they can educate well.
I can add to your search for the reasons to the falls in the US educational system.
I believe one of the major criteria for excellence was surrendered to the publishing houses for educational material which, in the1980s, required purchasing books every year. When you turn one aspect of the educational system over to the hands of a profit making business such as the publishing houses, then you get inferior products in the form of school books that become obselete every 2 years or so. You can only imagine the costs to the state for their contracts with these companies.
My daughter has been educated in the swiss public school system. At the university level she has now encountered her first american text books for psychology. Overall she feels they are written for the mentally slow. They are just full of insignificant details and are very disorganized. Written for grade school students was her overall comment. So how can you have any system of excellence if the textbooks are of an inferior level? We need to return to the universities to produce our text books especially for the first 12 years of school.
The GOP solution: Turn all the Old, Sick, Poor, Non-white, Non-christian, Unemployed, and Gay people into slaves. Then whip them until they are Young, Healthy, Rich, White, Christian, Employed, and Straight. Or until they are dead. Then turn them into Soylent Green to feed the military.
Fareed,
It appears you need to check your facts about education spending in California.
From http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Enacted/BudgetSummary/SummaryCharts.pdf
K-12 Education 34,302,000,000
Higher Education 10,248,000,000
Corrections and Rehabilitation 9,821,000,000
Fareed, that was a great piece of journalism on education! The first priority is to recognize the problem; the second is to solve the problem – not deny it. The dumbing down of the US has been a 40 year effort and it will take a long time to correct. Hopefully, there are enough bright people left to do this. The world has been noticing and it is difficult to hear, but Americans once were a great nation and can be again. Start studying and reading; get lean and disciplined like many other nations have been doing. Good luck to you.
Fareed is a tool of the establishment, this translates directly into support for more money wasted on an out of control education sector. Unjustified tuition costs will not be lowered as a response to more government intervention as Obama announced last week. It will only cause tuition to rise, the very definition of moral hazard! His article also fails to address the outsourcing of jobs to countries like China and India that are graduating 50 million plus BA's per year mostly in the sciences. Upward mobility requires that the degree you recieve has a reasonable chance of landing you a high salaried position yet that is not the case any longer.
Good, but you need to go a step farther. Add to your last sentence: "Upward mobility requires that the degree you recieve has a reasonable chance of landing you a high salaried position yet that is not the case any longer . . . BECAUSE those jobs are not being created.
i like how this piece ends with a commercial. "watch me on tv, to find out how to fix this........."
Fareed, your programme was excellent. But,the decline in education standards in the US must be looked at in the context of the lost dream. The greatness of the US during the last century came from Americans dreaming of the future and now we are dreaming of the past. Students and Teachers will act differently, if the dreams are re-created. One solution could be to jointly develop dreams with Asia and students are allowed to participate in this process by physically be relocated to Asia. The logistics cannot be insurmountable because the opposite happened fifty years ago
America has had it's day.Every empire ends.What ever reason you want to apply it does not matter.The world is moving beyond one major consumer and americans should realize that the wealthy have won the race to the pot of gold,capitol control,and nothing will ever be like it was.Enjoy being poor!
We have to get rid of home economics, baby care classes, most electives. Use those hours for math and science labs after the class and study hours for homework.
I think that the whole education system in America, both primary, secondary and college needs to be reformed.
1) Colleges offer more than several dozens of majors, however, only several of those majors help students to be successful in the job market, specifically those majors that include: math, accounting, science, engineering, pharmacology, medicine and computers, while all others are a waste of time and money. There are also too many irrelevant courses that students need to take before they actually start working on their major. As a result, it takes majority of students longer to graduate and with higher debt than otherwise with knowledge that is not needed and often without any skills pertaining to their studies.
2) Secondary schools often spend money on things that are fancy, rather than necessary for effective teaching, for example electronic white boards. What's wrong with using regular white boards? They cost less and occupy less space in the classroom than electronic white boards. I remember learning just fine when teachers were using simple chalk and chalk boards, and simple overhead projectors.
3) There are many reasons why many kids from minority groups do not learn well in school and have higher drop out rates and higher crime rates (at least in Los Angeles area) compared to everybody else. Among all reasons, there is one that isn't ever mentioned. Family's socio-economic status, poverty, location of residence, illiteracy of parents of those students, no discipline at home, and often broken families, domestic abuse and child abuse that negatively affects kids' academic performance and their outlook on life.
I believe that all the necessary changes can be made to improve education in public schools and colleges as long as there is a political will to do so.
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Here is a testament to the poor quality of education in this country. I work for a major hospitality company and most of my coworkers's don't understand basic math. For instance; I asked to confirm that we had 60 linear ft of a product, when I ordered it I said 20 linear yds, my coworker wasn't skilled enough to understand how to convert these units. The same goes with conversion between feet and inches, centimeters and inches. When I complain about the poor quality of employees we have, I am told this is the best we can get. I frankly don't believe that so many people are incapable of learning, so what happened? It is shocking that so many people can graduate from high school and college, then achieve a senior position with a company traded on the stock exchange and they can't do the same math that a fourth grader can?
I find this hard to believe. What was the education level of that person?
The problem is with our underlying philosophy of education and with our economic system. We graduate many students from college with excellent degrees, and many can't find decent jobs. In this country a "decent job" is defined as one that provides good health care coverage, and people don't leave those kinds of jobs to start small companies where they have to face that burden themselves. Additionally, we, unlike Europe and Asia, have a public school system which puts most of the mediocre students into a liberal arts mode, rather than a technical training mode. In Europe and Asia, liberal arts studies are primarily for those who are of a caliber to get PhD., not simply those who don't like math. The latter are trained to become artisans and skilled workers.
A key element in making our education system successful was missed in this report. While the program spoke to the importance that South Korean parents place on their children's education (and it was implied that Finland's parents must also greatly value their children's education), it did not emphasize the importance and impact of the parents in the childs successful education. Parents who show they value education by spending time going over homework, by partnering with the teacher can make a huge difference in the quality of the childs education. The best teachers in the world cannot lift a defeated child who no longer cares with parents who are uninvolved and do not value education. It must be a good teacher in partnership with interested involved parents that can teach a child the lifelong value of learning. This 3-legged stool must start with good teachers but must have committed interested parents who value education. This combination will establish the 3rd leg to excellence.....a student who wants and enjoys learning.
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If the USA had a system such as the Kahn Academy for grade school and high school, we would solve a lot of our educational problems in this country. If our youth could learn at home via a computer using simple instructions to teach subjects and they could learn at their own pace; we could eliminate so much expense with teachers and schools that we could provide free education, computer and internet access to all our students. Teachers then could be utilized for just students needing extra help to move to advanced levels. This make so much sense to me; probably too much sense to actually achieve this.
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