The Economy Effecting Education

President Obama claimed that “if we want more good news on the jobs front then we’ve got to make more investments in education.” While this is a previously known fact of life, a day later The New York Times released an article in which it was declared that software has become the predominate tool in legal research where as it had previously been done by collections of skilled wokers. Using such software provides a cheaper and more effective method of legal research. Due to this, the demand for technology over highly educated and skilled workers has increased. It is not only replacing more humble jobs but due to this it has created a greater demand for skill. This has led to the conclusion that only high-wage and low-wage positions have increased but those in the middle, the ones which support a middle class, have lagged. This has caused a call to fix the American education system and the inequalities that are faced within that. It was previously thought that with a good college degree, you would be successful in finding a good job. This no longer holds true and only continues to become a more invalid statement throughout the passing decades. But as this process occurs, one must wonder how this and the economic divides have effected the college process for students.  

After a survey was administered in which 21,000 high school students participated, it was shown that the economy and the current recession has been effecting students college decisions more so than it had in the past. It was released that sixty-eight percent of the applicants claimed that the economy has proved to be a crucial factor in their college decisions. This percentage has increased by four percent each year since 2009, which was described as the height of the economic recession. Through this, it was deducted that total cost of a specific college or university effected the students decision to apply or enroll by a staggering eighty-seven percent. 

            Through this, it can be determined that the demand for highly skilled workers is beginning to decline but yet there is a constant supply of educated graduates coming out of college to fulfill a decreasing number, or quantity, of jobs within the market. Due to the increase in the both the supply and demand of technology, there has been a furthering in the gap between the rich and the poor. There has been a sharp decline in the presence of the middle class and the number of jobs to support such a class. According to such articles, there needs to be a transformation within the American education system but I believe that this is an outdated theory.  If so, it can be interpreted that the undergraduate and graduate educations will only become more expensive and thus more families will suffer from this and will only further the divide which has become the original problem. I instead believe that there has to be an increase in the number of employment opportunities instead considering that there will always be a constant supply of people who are in need of jobs and without that and their entrance into the workforce, the overall economy will eventually suffer as well. I believe that there has to be an increase in the demand to meet the constant supply to at least aid the problem of the class and economic divide within society. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/opinion/07krugman.html?ref=unitedstateseconomy

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/economy-2/?scp=2&sq=economy&st=cse