The bleak economy has increasingly dominated the headlines. It’s easy to see why, given the yo-yoing stock market and through-the-roof energy prices. But the economy’s difficulties have overshadowed an equally troubling trend: since the late 1960s, U.S. high-school graduation rates have steadily declined.
Riane Eisler, in her wonderful book, “The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics,” eloquently made the case that the caring parts of our economy (education, healthcare, childcare, parenting) have been so devalued, they put society’s health at risk. Recently, David Brooks of the New York Times reviewed several books that trace how the decline in educational attainment has led to the forfeiting of “…America’s lead over its economic rivals.”
This troubling development threatens the country’s long-term prospects. It also widens the gap between rich and poor, as Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz describe in their book, “The Race Between Education and Technology.”
“In periods, like the current one, when educational progress lags behind technological change, inequality widens,” write Goldin and Katz. “The relatively few skilled workers command higher prices, while the many unskilled ones have little bargaining power.”
We’ve all read about India and China’s huge investment in training professionals of all kinds. Brooks argues that in the U.S., our “skills slowdown is the biggest issue facing the country.” He rightly reminds us, as we send our kids back to school, that “this slow-moving problem, more than any other, will shape the destiny of the nation.”