In Robert Reich’s “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” he points out the growing gap between classes and discusses several reasons for why he thinks this is occurring. There are three classes of workers: the routine producers, in-person servers, and the symbolic analysts. The routine producers made up much of the work force mid-century, but they are sinking rapidly with the loss of jobs. The in-person servers are constantly having more positions being opened up, but the competition for those positions has increased drastically, making them also sinking, but with a more unsure future. However, the symbolic analysts are increasingly in high demand around the world, and very much rising above the others.
When you get to the root of it, the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer because the economy is shifting to a global economy. The industry is no longer restricted to within our borders; therefore, the competition increases dramatically. The routine workers are losing their jobs because labor is cheaper in other countries. This in turn causes the surplus of in-person servers. Because there are now many unemployed workers, the competition of service jobs is increasing. In-person service jobs never made a substantial income to begin with. Now, store owners can hire more qualified people to take these jobs for the same amount of money, leaving those who dropped out of high school or have no skills unemployed.
The United States is transitioning from a manufacturing industry to a service based industry. The world is looking for Americans to fill the higher thinking positions, which Reich refers to as “symbolic analysts.” This should put education as the priority of our country. The people who are struggling with fewer job opportunities are those who have no skills or college degrees. The opportunity for wealth for Americans lies in getting a good education. There is a surplus of positions available in science, research, engineering, management, marketing, architecture, and public relations. College has become a necessity in order to live a comfortable life style, and it needs to be the priority of the American society. In order to boost our economy, we need an educated work force, and that means making attending college accessible for everyone. So many students don’t go to college because of the mounting costs. I’m not suggesting that college be free for everyone, because I think that paying for college increases motivation for success. However, FAFSA, which is supposed to be the government aid for college students is really only for those students who are in low income families. The middle class families need more help paying for college.
The global economy demands the United States to provide educated workers who can use their minds and creativity to make a living, rather than manual labor that is quickly being replaced by more efficient machinery. Getting more Americans in the symbolic analyst positions will improve the financial status of the average American, and also improve the quality of life of the citizens. Reich points out that so many of symbolic analysts actually enjoy their work and “would work even if money were not an object,” while those in the in-person service and routine producing only work because it is necessary for their survival. Happy people buy more stuff, which would cause our economy to boom.
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2 comments:
I agree with you that America needs to focus on the education of the population if it is going to survive. The trouble is, the higher ups in politics, business, and advertising have been milking the “hard working, home town, average American” image for so long that in order for people to realize what they need to do to insure their success, this country is going to need to change a big chunk of its value system.
Ever since this country was founded, the average independent American worker has always been glorified. This has also increased nationalism and individualism, making Americans stubborn. These factors are going to make it very difficult for people to realize that, as a world power, the citizens of America should be transitioning to more specialized jobs, and less blue-collar work. I have nothing against blue-collar workers, but it is inevitable that if America can’t keep up with its reputation and its wealth, we are going to have a situation where even more of the wealth will be concentrated in the top percent and everyone who doesn’t have at least a BA degree will be living in poverty.
I also agree that college should be more available to all. It is slowly becoming an elitist institution, pushing even the middle class out of their price range. This is not good at all for this country, because it may have the effect of pushing the middle class down to the lower classes. If a middle class family can’t afford to send their children to a decent college, many of those children will inevitably join the working class. And as I stated above, things don’t look good for the working class as it is. So if we have even more people wanting to enter the already shrinking job market for the working class, we are increasing poverty exponentially.
America needs to realize its position in the world and accept the fact that if we can’t educate our public sufficiently, poverty will swell and begin to overtake the middle class, ultimately increasing the disparity of wealth.
I see both of you touch on higher eduaction and cost. What would "free" higher education look like? Why is it not possible? Perhaps it would help with such issues as grade inflation -- others?
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