Upward mobility requires education. Here’s how America falls short. | Arne Duncan | Big Think
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- Upward mobility requires education. Here’s how America falls short.
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One credible way to help children born into poverty get out of it is by providing them with a great education. Indeed, the best, high-paying jobs are going to go to the nations with the best-education people.
On top of helping solve socio-economic inequality, a quality education also promotes a civically-minded, knowledgable citizenry.
Education has become a partisan issue - it should be the opposite. It's also become frayed by lackluster civic engagement.
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ARNE DUNCAN
Arne Duncan was one of the longest serving members of President Barack Obama’s cabinet and among the most influential Secretaries of Education in history. He is now a managing partner with the Emerson Collective.
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TRANSCRIPT:
ARNE DUNCAN: The only way I know how to end cycles of poverty is by giving children, who happened to be born in poverty, which is never their fault, a chance to get a great education. If we want to have upper mobility, if we want to have a growing middle-class the only way I know how to do that is through education. And quite honestly these days Im starting to worry about our democracy and our democracy fraying at the edges. And if were going to have a civically-engaged citizenry, if were going to have an active participatory democracy, the only way I know how to do that is through education. a the And we live now in a flat world, in a globally competitive economy.
And good jobs, high wage, high-skilled jobs are going to go to the nation that does the best job of educating their citizens. And I desperately want those jobs to be here in America and Id rather them of the year than in China or India or Singapore or wherever else, South Korea wherever else you might talk about. For us to do that we as a nation have to embrace the opportunity I would say the imperative of having a great, great education system.
Where we are now today quite candidly isn't good enough. If you look at early childhood we ranked 30th in terms of access to pre-K; its a dismal record. If you look at math and reading science scores at the high school level we re somewhere usually between 15th and 30th internationally; you look at college completion rate were about 16th. To sum all that up were top 10 in nothing. And while there are amazing bright spots, theres stuff thats so inspiring that I traveled the country and was lucky enough to see every day we have to get better faster and we have to do it with a real sense of urgency.
Its a tough comment for me to make or tough belief to have that too much of education involves lies. Well, let me just walk through a couple of them: I tell the story early in the book of a young man I worked with named Calvin Williams who was a rising senior who was a very good basketball player was on the B-honor roll at his high school and wanted me to help prep him for the ACT so he could go to a division one school to receive a basketball scholarship. And very quickly after we started working I found out that he was functionally illiterate, he was really struggling with the basics. And that was just devastating to me because this was a young man coming from a very tough environment never smoked, never drink, stayed away from the gangs, wasn't caught in violence, he played by all of our societal rules and yet we collectively had let him down. He was not nearly prepared to take that next step in his educational journey. That story is unfortunately all too often true.
A second lie is that we say we value education but we never vote around education, we never hold politicians at any level, local, state, federal accountable for increasing access to high-quality pre-K or raising high school graduation rates or making college more accessible and affordable. And for me education should be the ultimate bipartisan or non-partisan issue. I do care less left, right, Republican, Democrat, I just want us as voters to vote on these issues. Third, we say we value teachers, but we don't pay them as professionals, we don't train them as professionals, we don't have career ladders that make sense and teaching is some of the most important most challenging most complex work imaginable. We trust literally our babies' futures to our nations teachers, but we don't respect them and treat them and compensate them as such.
Then the final one and maybe the toughest is the lie that we say we value our children. And Ive struggled with the issue of gun vio...
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Two major problems with education today:
1) we don’t encourage recreational reading for people to learn on their own.
2) we don’t look beyond universities for post secondary education. Community colleges are frowned upon, trade/tech schools are barely mentioned in high schools, and getting a certification isn’t seen as good as getting a bachelors degree, even though many people achieve happiness and high incomes with specialized alternative education.
Completely agree
#save for education
To an outside observer, (I’m from England) the main problem seems to be that the US further education system is based on making a profit.
It’s bizarre that you have to buy this years text books. When I studied at university, nearly all my books were second hand and a fraction of the cost of new ones. This is just one example.
The minor, major system seems a bit weird as well. I studied engineering so went to maths and engineering classes. Any American exchange students that came over seemed fairly behind for the time that they had studied. They had a more general knowledge.
Specialisation seems to come on much later.
Lesser Spotted Mugwump. Profit isn’t the problem. It would be fine if government wasn’t supplying grants and loans into for profit industries (same with health insurance). When governments of any level provide guarantees of funding, a for profit institution will find ways to increase prices to get even more. If there were no incentives from the public treasury, the free market would force competition and basic economics to be played out, and either a school would be forced to reduce costs to attract students, or provide more bang for their buck.
It’s insane the corruption that takes place. I’m in the military, so I know what an actual government financed education is like. And its good to some degree in basics, but nothing like a private school.
@@mrmagoo-i2l Ironically, the largest textbook publisher is from London.
Imagine you take an ambulance ride that cost $3000. The driver of that ambulance will make around 12-15 an hour. Say that ride takes 30 minutes. He gets paid a whole six dollars or something. The gas of that ambulance doesn't cost $2994, the supplies for that one person don't either.. So why does this cost so much? Why does the driver make so little? We live in a messed up economy that breeds stupidity. HELL teachers make so little it's a wonder we have anybody with brains at all.
You know where NOT to get a "good" education? The vast majority of universities. Sure if you can make it into an ivy league college, those are great. But what is not great is your typical state university. You can watch Yale lectures here on CZcams, and if you buy the old books for those old courses, read, learn on your own, and follow the course videos, you will achieve a much better education than you will paying $15,000/semester at a state university and it will cost pennies on the dollar. No papers though, your education has to help you as an individual.
Education is power! If it wasn't we would not have so many against making it accessible...
This is idiocy two fold. First of all, our formal education systems are terribly ineffective, and don't grant power to the end user, but power to the academic class. Secondly, no one is against making education accessible. The government interference in the market, with their indirect demand sides subsidies, are what created the student debt crisis and (luckily) warded people like me away from the system.
If you subsidize the demand of a good or service, its price goes up. This is BASIC stuff, and if you don't realize that, then the system has failed you, and I hold it as evidence that supports my case.
Education is potential.
This fails to see the real problem. What if everyone gets a higher education? Who is going to do the "lowly" jobs? We still need our roads paved, don't we? The real problem is the inequality of wages.
What do you propose we do to equalize wages? What justification do you have to pay the construction worker, the mcdonalds cashier, and the Steel mill worker the same wage?
@@BigEvan96 I don't think he was saying we pay everyone the same wage. Imagine you take an ambulance ride that cost $3000. The driver of that ambulance will make around 12-15 an hour. Say that ride takes 30 minutes. He gets paid a whole six dollars or something. The gas of that ambulance doesn't cost $2994, the supplies for that one person don't either.. So why does this cost so much? Why does the driver make so little? We live in a messed up economy that breeds stupidity. HELL teachers make so little it's a wonder we have anybody with brains at all.
there are so many jobs that "require" a bachelors degree that a HS dropout can do
Top ten in nothing is not true.
Imprisonment is just one example.
I think obesity might be too.
And healthcare spending is at least close.
Military spending is top 5 at least.
what about school shootings?
"Top ten in nothing is not true"
He was talking about education measurements only.
@@silversolver7809 dude don't take the bait
The real education is in this comment section; interesting.
This couldn't have been a better talk. Thank you secretary.
Upward mobility requires individual effort and research. All it takes is discipline, Google and some time (be it a short-term grind or a long-term marathon).
that could not be more false. Upward mobility does not exist outside of carefully controlled lottery systems of celebrity and corporate exploitation. Upward mobility is, like all other things, a commodity. You have to have money to make money. And what your parents leave you with is the limit of what discipline will provide.
@@ZennExile That's nonsense. Upward mobility exists for anyone unwilling to yield to stress and anxiety about the future.
If you start saving and investing $50 a month when you're 20 and stop when you're 70 you'll have roughly one Million USD at the average annualized return of the stock market (averaged over the historical data going back more than a century).
On top of that, if you spend actual effort on learning some craft, skill or occupation that yields more than minimum wage you can increase your investments.
With $500 per month starting at 30 and stopping at 70 you'll have almost $4 Million USD.
And anybody who decides early in life that they want to build wealth can get a job that allows them to invest $500 a month by the time they are 30.
Then once they actually are there they're already competent enough to push even further and increase their monthly investments, e.g. by getting promoted, getting a higher skill job, or living frugally instead of spending lavishly.
Basically, any kid that decides they want to be a millionaire can very realistically retire with a solid eight figure fortune, and any 20~40 year old adult can retire with at least a million if they actually start running the marathon.
None of this is a secret either. It's publicly available information that somehow 99% of the population never even thinks to look for.
@@nal8503 or you are living in a delusion and the vast majority of people cannot get a job that pays 500$ more than their expenses. The average person has little more than 1$ per day in disposable assets. Living poor is vastly more expensive as well as smaller amounts of all products cost more and they cannot afford to buy, or store, in bulk.
72% of the country could not afford a surprise expense of 500$ let alone put that much away per month. It would be a safe estimate to suggest even cutting expenses to the bare minimum, 85% or more of the country could not afford to put away 500$ a month.
Opportunities that even offer 500$ a month in total disposable income are few and far between. Because those opportunities are a traded commodity as well. And with automation replacing the majority of the human workforce over the next 20 years...
Your deluded world view no longer applies to reality in a way that can be argued or debated. You are simply wrong, and will stay that way.
Because, TrueFacts: that is how a fukpotato do.
"All it takes is…"
Wouldn't it be great if there was a shred of reality in your claim? You are very probably in for major disappointment if you base your life on such a naive view.
Well said, Zenn.
@@ZennExile "Your deluded world view no longer applies to reality in a way that can be argued or debated. You are simply wrong, and will stay that way. "
That is pretty ironic coming from somebody with no reading comprehension skills.
You might want to try paying attention to what you read, because you clearly either didn't understand my post or deliberately cherry pick to confirm your flawed perception of reality.
Whichever it is, I never assumed that people have, or need, $500 of monthly excess income because I'm well aware of the fact that most people on this planet do not.
If you actually paid attention you would've realized that the $500 case was an example that reliably and demonstrably yields a retirement in a $1 Million USD range with a _late start_ or to a retirement with more than $10 Million USD for anyone who decides to be diligent in their teenage years or very early adulthood.
I've also shown that $50 per month is enough to retire with around $1 Million USD if you decide to start early and choose to prefer diligence over comfort.
Life is about a basic decision. Are you willing to sacrifice comfort now in exchange for future prosperity?
If you are not willing to continuously learn you will not get to a point where you become so competent that you can get high paying jobs.
And if you are not willing to sacrifice today's comfort then you will not accrue compounding interests that will reliably propel you into prosperity.
You are saying that it's a lottery. It is not and it only appears to people who have never done anything out of their own power and only follow others. Anybody who pays attention quickly realizes how obvious exponential growth is if you invest the necessary energy.
This applies to everything in reality, be it learning a skill or growing wealth.
You are essentially equating this glaringly obvious fact of life with "delusion", which at least for the time being disqualifies you from any and every claim to truth or rationality.
Instead of claiming "education" as a passport to the middle class and beyond, I think we should use the term "Skills" because it's more realistic. Getting an education isn't good enough. It's the skills you either learn in the course of education or experience that enables you to acquire the careers that compensate you enough to acquire a middle class life and eventually lead you to an upper class one.
Learn to code.
@@Yandel21ableify yup
@@Yandel21ableify or be a youtuber before the youtube bubble pops
Maybe just reduce the amount of paperwork for applying. That’s why I never went to college, they wanted me to sign all this shit. I was like I don’t have time for all this I gotta get to work.
Mark N. Even if you got in you would have failed. You would have found the instructions at the start of tests too tedious to read.
@@karagi101 that's a bad test then.
@@Chris-rg6nm right! Saved myself SO much money.
Mark N. Nope. Reading comprehension is part of the test. How are you so sure you wouldn’t have made more money and had a more enjoyable and fulfilling career if you had gone to college?
karagi101 It’s mercy forgiveness and compassion I lack, not comprehension. And I know it wouldn’t have helped because I don’t have a savings, or a career to begin with, and I want neither, so I say again. Not going to college was the smartest thing I ever done.
Perhaps instead of emphasizing a politician to voter educational relationship, we emphasize a parent to teacher educational relationship.
Politicians can affect policies that improve access to education, push for a more rigorous curriculum, and increase teacher pay through controlling state and local budgets. A lot of the issues he mentioned can be solved more effectively by holding politicians to the fire. Of course, that doesn't discount the need for parents to be more involved with their children's education.
@@Mrnevertalks The problem with these altruistic notions is they never come to fruition nor are politicians ever held accountable. Funding has increased at rates vastly out pacing inflation www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/10facts/edlite-chart.html Additionally, what has massively increased as a cost, school administration costs. www.aei.org/publication/chart-of-the-day-administrative-bloat-in-us-public-schools/
Teacher pay won't increase due to an antiquated policy of "Smaller classrooms and more teachers" which vastly increases the labor costs and while limiting the increases available to existing teachers.
These political platitudes are routinely espoused and rarely, if ever, happen.
manboob5000 Isn’t that the problem then? Nothing is getting done. I’d also argue it’s more fundamental than this. The curriculum and system need to be redesigned as Finland did decades ago.
Education leads to Innovation...
ijvo1951 Education for educations sake leads to stagnation.
@@nobo1682 National Defense Education Act
UNITED STATES [1958] www.britannica.com/topic/National-Defense-Education-Act
Is this factoring population? There are six times more Americans that South Koreans for example. Is it reasonable that the US can have 6 times the population AND be #1?
Good thing I'm not effect by most of these things out here in my woods
Psychopathic Wealth Consolidation is destroying the planet. You ain't safe either fuzzy britches. They comin for your trees.
@@ZennExile word
Not to audaciously self-promote but I've tried to consider this problem (similar to this but framed around different ideas) in a recent video if anyone is interested
Great video!
Wow
Here, Romania's education system sucks...I feel like I can't have a bright future here.
What can you become in Romania, other than a Vampire? Asking for a friend?
Myth #5: A good education guarantees you a high paying job.
But that myth has made a very small group of people a very large mountain of money.
Zenn Exile and another very very large group of people a mountain of debt and no marketable skills.
@@alexill that was the point, dummy dum dumb
Truth #1: lack of education guarantees you a low paying job.
Zenn Exile you hurt my feelings :(
Unfortunately it also requires a higher IQ which is genetic.
Ouch!
Let the asians take control and the other races take a back seat!
IQ baseline is genetic. However, maximizing your IQ requires cognitive training, and is a culmination of many other socioeconomic factors, including access to clean (heavy metal free) water, and food, as well as access to healthcare. In many cases even access to dental care can vastly affect IQ.
Genetics just gives you a platform. Cognitive toolkits are learned.
@@ZennExileExactly. Gotta maximize potential in our population. Heaven knows half of our population already has a double digit iq.
great great video
What many won’t admit and it seem Arne is no different is that those who are upwardly mobile have to give up their walled garden communities so children born into poverty are allowed to mingle with children who aren’t. Otherwise you will have separate and unequal schools.
What you just said helps explain why today's Republicans are openly spewing blatant racism. In psychological terms, conservatism is really a superiority complex, tied in with Nazism, social darwinism and the KKK.
@@stevemcdonald6001 I disagree. This symptom is right at home with upwardly mobile liberals and progressives.
@@hgoodman9 True tax reform would require ALL wealthy taxpayers to pay a penalty for such behaviors... I would say any income over six figures.
It would have been better if he had presented some solutions instead of just mentioning the problems
I disagree on keeping kids safe from fear. That is bad for survival and is very bad for becoming a victim of predatory capitalists.
@ForrestSCS agreed.
If voting made a difference they wouldn't allow us to do it.
which is why we shoud abolish public schools
I'm sure Betsy DeVos is capable of solving America's education deficit(!)
I am sure Betsy DeVos couldn't find her ass with both hands and a GPS.
Mhy first question was should i downvote this directly?
1 minute in, of course i should do that. Because he doesnt take all variables into effect.
How the hell did he determine it was a failure of the education system and also perfectly ignore the students willingness to work to understand it. Both of these things would have the same effect so how in the fucking world did he take one into account and not the second without any proof was more prevalent?
Listening to people like these will almost never tell you what you should do to make the country better, they have an emotional response but not a well reasoned respone to give.
"Big think, where 70 IQ is wayyyy too much."
Daniel Lassander True, most of my college friends don’t know shit yet they have a degree. They were good at taking tests.
Upward mobility does NOT require any formal education. This guy is disturbingly misinformed about both education and economics. "The only way I know how to end cycles of poverty is by giving children born in poverty... a chance to get a good education." Then he doesn't know very much and shouldn't be presenting his ideas to the public. Seriously, that's crazy. It's a fact that formal education doesn't improve function or intelligence, and it's a fact that function and intelligence matter more to work than formal education. Formal education is a waste of time. It would be better to just allow children to work, rather than wasting time in school.
He also seems to underestimate the class mobility in the US, as well as misunderstand the economics of job locations. Jobs aren't finite. This is all just within his first minute of speaking. Whatever his conclusions are, his premises are flawed.
DEL J well said. Upward mobility is the result of hard work and persistence.
@@myutubechannel_nr1 "The probability of getting a decent paying job without a degree or trade is very low." Okay. I didn't say shit about a trade. So you're reframing the discussion. But beyond that, you don't need either to get a decent paying job. RIGHT NOW, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of trucking companies that are hiring and provide paid training. I make decent money driving Lyft/Uber. I make decent money renting out my sailboat and teaching people how to surf and sail. I make decent money on other investments. I made SERIOUS money when I worked on towboats on the Mississippi River. Tech companies with extremely high growth accept portfolios on lieu of degrees.
By pretending formal education matters, you're part of the problem. We should be not only refusing to pay for people's superficial credentials, we should be refusing to recognize them as noteworthy accomplishments. They are pushing real adulthood later and later into life. It's a negative thing, not a positive one. We have data that nearly decisively proves that formal education doesn't make better workers, and that we should have more full time internships as opposed to school.
Beyond that, this inflation of the value of degrees seems to primarily be an American thing. I wish I had more statistics on it, but I know several people... I think about nine people from Prince Edward Island that have killer tech careers, despite not having degrees. There is nothing inherently valuable about the degrees. I know that the number of idiots I've seen that think their degrees matter is far higher than the number of intelligent people I've seen who think their degrees matter. If my businesses expand, I know one thing, anyone that submits an application and lists off degrees, but not work experience, won't be on the top of my stack to hire.
@@alexillfalse upward mobility is combination of a lot mostly who you know who you are and luck/ch ace
@@thehollyduckie9002 “false” you sound like a clown- go get yourself a box of tissues and have a good cry, you’ll feel better
Wow... These flat earthers popping up everywhere
*My best guess before watching: their education is too expensive?*
How are you planning to promote bigger amount of better educated population -?.. - I can't imagine a kind of vacancies-market.. - What kind of structure such a vacancies-market - for a bigger number of verywell educated people - could have?...
P.s. - General effect from the more educated population - humaniously..- is quite obvious , but it is definitely very hard to measure in some... Strict numbers...I guess... - Improvements in educational system will cost huge amounts of money... - How to count this amounts to come back to economics, while there's only few experts in the world who could predict now about how economics - Global Economics - WILL look like, when it is time to demonstrate payback effect from investments into development of educational system -...
P.s.2. - It is The System - it needs no less then a decade to finalize all changes at every 'step'..., so it could bring a 'sinergetic' effect of improvement... And...not all the kids, finally, can percept... - even very good education - with equal cognitive effort...and effectiveness...- how are you going to sort?.. - You couldn't know when the talent can 'wake-up' and 'shoot'- I mean - perform...- manifest...
If we want to tackle education we need to tackle the family system first. Children are greatly impacted by their parent's education. Unfortunately we live in a climate where abortions are legal, no-fault divorces, split families, and single income households are a thing. The family is institutionally unsupported and the potency of learning in the home has been too irresponsible that the community feels the need to step in. Not only are families not providing discipline, but school systems are using ineffective disciplining techniques. If schools wish to tackle these marginalized communities they need to get the parents involved. The parents must be learning as their children learn so they bring home a normalized culture of expansion and growth; this means intellectually, spiritually, and socially.
I like the topic of education being brought up. However, we should have a solution dialogue as well. What would vote on?
I didn't hear 1 big thought or idea, nothing new at all...
and you never will because the idea isn't to sell a solution, it's to sell student debt.
Eh disagree, he who creates the most value in their country can disregard whether this involves going to school or not. Naturally because of how the United State's laws are designed, it enables more entrepreneurs from any country without an education to become something amazing.
So how exactly YOU helped that young man ,mr.Greyhair?
Trickle down economics is the only way forward lul
Skeptic Seeker Either that or revolution.
BERNIE SANDERS 2020
Free education,healthcare and higher wages
That sounds great!!! Where do we get the money though? Ya know?
CZcams Drifter I think he was trolling. I hope so.
NY NY I’ve got some magic beans for sale if you want some?
$100 each.
CZcams Drifter You get the money from taxing corporations and higher income citizens like every other successful country that provides affordable education and health care has done. The increased tax rates are more than offset by not having to pay exorbitant amounts for your own health and education. Society as a whole benefits by having highly educated, healthy citizens and by saving a fortune on social problems (e.g. policing/jails).
ForrestSCS The overall societal cost is lower despite some additional consumer costs. You pay a little more but save a great deal more on education and health care costs. Yes, shareholders may see lower returns (though not necessarily since corporations benefit from a more educated and healthy workforce), but the shareholder impact is concentrated on the richest folks who own most of the shares. So far we are only talking dollars and cents. The non-monetary benefits of a more educated and healthier society have yet be factored in. PS. Where above did I say it’s free?
Speaker: I don't care about left/right politics. Also speaker: I want the government to solve everything.
Public education has been the responsibility of the government since it was established in this country. The local community government is the primary driver behind the school system's day to day operation.
Also, the speaker's personal beliefs don't prevent them from working towards bipartisan solutions.
You really should check out andrew yang.
PepsiCo now brings you: Doriteducation! All the bold, delicious facts you need, in one place!
Sorry, the private sector has no desire to educate anyone. It's like begging people to take away your low-paying job and hand it to a slightly richer person.
@@Mrnevertalks What bipartisan solution do you see for the education? Throw more money on solution that has proven itself insufficient countless times, or allow parents to choose if they want to send their kids to the shitty public school, or chose that for profit school that will make the shitty school even worse for everyone still using it?
@@PetarStamenkovic I don't see what my personal views on the matter have to do with the original comnent. I have no children and just graduated college last year. I have no views of any substance on the matter.
Yeah, get educated before start to sucking some cooperation job....how they say, the means satisfy the ends.
You want a huge middle class so the upper class can get rich off them
Arne, when I hear someone like you say "It's time for us all to pay taxes commensurate with the society we want and need", I'll listen to your other complaining.
Until that happens, I'll just set you on the shelf with all the other free-market capitalists.
If that's what you're looking to hear, you don't understand economics, evolution, or human driven action.
Free markets are PROVABLY the fastest way to wealth for everyone.
@@IWLDELJ Ah yea, let me know how successful you think free markets are after we pay off the climate bill.
So-called "free markets" are leaving a lot of externalities for other people to clean up.
DEL J There remains intense market competition in those countries that provide higher support rates for education. The universities must compete for students to get funding and they must continually optimize their operations to reduce their costs.
@@misterguts There are no such things as externalities. Climate change is tort, plain and simple.