tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post1492249219195122349..comments2023-11-03T04:00:24.785-04:00Comments on Kentucky School News and Commentary: Poverty and Lack of Opportunity threaten the American DreamRichard Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14586435007687942849noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-22225618019880870792015-06-02T11:30:02.000-04:002015-06-02T11:30:02.000-04:00I know this is going to sound ironic coming from a...I know this is going to sound ironic coming from an educator, but why do we keep blaming education for the current conditions? <br /><br />We need to consider what we are basing our "rich getting richer and poor getting poorer" comparison. It wasn't that long ago that we had many more folks dropping out of school before graduation with inconsistent curriculum outcomes. At that time, however, those folks could access decent paying blue collar jobs which would sustain a family and dare I say fulfill the "American Dream". I am a product of those family circumstance where parents without college degrees worked their way up through companies or develop skill sets that allowed them to advance elsewhere in the work force. <br /><br />Regrettably, many of those blue collar opportunities have been shipped away to other countries and the college educations which our parents thought would bring us higher paid, easier professional careers have instead placed us in jobs that have greater stress, no sense of commitment to employees by the companies that employ us and at wages that (when adjusted for generational inflation) are probably about the same as our parents.<br /><br />Obviously, our employment environment has changed but not everyone is going to be able to be an entrepreneur working out of their on a computer. Fact is many folks don't want to do that. How can we sell education to students who see teachers with master degrees and above getting compensated for much less than their education and experience should merit. Some see educated parents unemployed, under employed or working at low paying jobs. <br /><br />The American Dream was based upon opportunity and that just simply isn't there like it used to be. Education can help but it isn't the only solution. Poverty exists everywhere and will continue to exist as long as their is competition for limited resources. We need to stop fooling ourselves with this utopian idea that we can somehow institutionally educate society out of the existence of poverty. Sorry, just tired of education being identified as being the magic bullet for all things. Bringyoursaddlehomehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12266891355734317864noreply@blogger.com