The graphic really does put things in perspective. But we shouldn't be surprised. Three years ago, Tom Friedman wrote in the New York Times that "the age of average is over." As Friedman writes:
"Today, employers have access to cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation. The only way for the individual to succeed is to find their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.”
The unemployment rates listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Americans over 25 years old make the Pew findings even starker: those with less than a high school degree are unemployed at a rate of 13.4%; those with a high school degree and no college, 8.3%; those with some college or associate degree, 7.7 %; those with bachelor’s degree, 4.5%, Master’s degree, 3.5%, and a doctorate, 2.5%. The thing is, we are now competing for jobs not just with other people in our respective cities, but with people in Thailand, Norway, Australia, Russia, South Africa, the globe.
Of course, the earnings gap that Pew refers to is just one of the problems. There have been abundant studies tying poor education to crime rates, family dysfunction, and a host of other societal ills. This is why education - for everyone - must be a top national priority, as important to us as defense spending. How are kids going to have something "unique" to contribute if we as a nation are content to offer them, at best, an average education?
Average isn't good enough. If we believe in American exceptionalism and wish to preserve it, we must be concerned about the education of all children, not just our own.
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