Convergence

Kudos to Tech Futures for keeping everything in perspective. (Hat tip to Brewed Fresh Daily for the reference to this post.)

An educated citizenry is the single most important tool for rebuilding our region’s economy. No factor correlates more closely to an increase in per capita income than educational attainment. And while the US may still hold a leadership position in many higher education research fields, our greatest challenge is in getting our own kids prepared to take advantage of those higher ed assets. If you don’t even graduate from high school, being surrounded by great colleges won’t help you one bit.

While many non-US citizens come to the US to take advantage of our university resources (and many of these then leave to return home, taking the knowledge they’ve acquired and any future economic spillovers with them), far too many of our own citizens never even make it through high school. Sadly, many of those who do graduate from US high schools find they are ill prepared for US college life—“graduation” shouldn’t mean turning 18 while still reading at a fourth-grade level.

Good stuff.