[lbo-talk] Ravitch Warns Obama on Education Policy: 'Change CourseBefore it is Too Late'

[Miles Jackson]

Carrol Cox wrote:
> Query: How much does the present economy (from the perspective of the
> ruling elites) _need_ a more educated populace?
> 
> That is _both_ a real question (I don't _know_ the answer) AND a
> rhetorical question: I'm going to assume that the answer is that the
> economy does _not_ need a more educated populace. It needs a more
> disciplined and subservient populace.

Over the past ten years or so, I've been tracking the BLS projections on 
the 25 fastest growing occupations (by job numbers, not percentages). 
About 20 of the occupations on the list require no college education. 
The grandiose political rhetoric about "college for all" 
notwithstanding, our economy generates a huge number of low paid job 
positions that require little or no formal education beyond high school. 

         (--And the political focus on access to college obscures the 
real problem: there are many workers doing socially crucial labor and 
getting paid shitty wages!)

Miles