We speak of income inequality gaps too symptomatically: We may speak of an achievement gap, income gap, and digital divide.
But there’s a more foundational gap that society must first address if it expects to close the others: the efficacy gap.
There's consensus that ever more repetitive jobs will be automated
and that ever more of the remaining decent-paying jobs will require
technical chops, people skills, and emotional solidity sufficient to
handle change's acceleration and life's timeless slings and arrows.
Alas, too many people cannot be expected to possess that amalgam.
What is being done?
We can continue the path we’ve long been on: Pour more money into education and other uplift programs. Alas, despite 50 years and $22 trillion dollars, and spending #1
or close to it (depending on which study you believe) per capita in the
world on K-12 education, and the U.S. higher education system being
"the envy of the world," the income and achievement gap is as wide as ever. And the requirements for well-paying jobs will likely only rise from here.
The current crop of changes will likely yield only modest benefit.
Among the more touted is to bolster high schools’ and community
colleges’ career-technical
education programs. Yes, that will probably prepare more plumbers,
electricians, medical assistants, welders, and chefs but it's unclear
whether any shortage of such workers is so great as to provide
sustainable employment for the many students who perform marginally or
worse in the standard curriculum.
What could be done?
We increasingly recognize that our environment
facilitates or inhibits our potential's fulfillment but, per the
evidence above, if a person's potential is insufficient, education and
uplift programs may not be enough.
A wiser approach may be to truly celebrate diversity: to replace the
one-size-fits-all “high standards for all students” mantra with “personalized standards
for all students." Personalizing requires using technology. Only that
can provide fully individualized, high-quality, immersive, interactive
instruction—and in any child's native language!
Alas, even that may be insufficient. There will still likely be many
people unable or unwilling to be continually self-supporting. For them, government
should create jobs at which they can succeed, whether WPA-like
infrastructure or people-helping jobs, for example tutor of
primary-grade kids or companion to elders. To discourage the so-called
"welfare mentality," pay would need to be significantly above what
government would pay them if not working.
By virtue of being human, everyone should be entitled to a basic
humane standard of living, but not necessarily in cash. If dorms and
cafeterias are good enough for Harvard students who pay hundreds of
thousands of dollars for the privilege, dorms and cafeterias should be
good enough for able-bodied people unwilling to work even at a
government-handed-out job and who expect taxpayers to support them for
not working. Basic but humane health
care should be provided. For example, primary care for able-bodied
people unwilling to work would be provided by RNs, with cost-benefited
advanced care provided by specialists available at the time.
I wrote this essay despite being aware that my influence is far too
small for this approach to be implemented and that some readers will
dislike at least some part of it. But I believe that prerequisite to
developing approaches for a next half-century that will be more
successful than the previous requires increased embracing the
ideological diversity that social justice warriors claim is essential.
This essay is a small attempt at that.
Dr. Nemko’s nine books are available. He can be reached at mnemko@comcast.net (link sends e-mail)
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