Fed Chairmen See Need for Strong Schools Too

"Education is the best investment."

That's not my quote, but it easily could be.

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, said that at a Chamber of Commerce session on education and economic competitiveness several weeks ago.


In context, he was noting that people often ask him for investment advice ... and that's what he tells them.


That's pretty good advice, in my book.


Here's what else he said:

Education imparts significant benefits both to our society and the individuals who pursue it. Economists have long recognized that the skills of the workforce are an important source of economic growth. ... If we are to successfully navigate such challenges as the retirement of the baby-boom generation, advancing technology, and increasing globalization, we must work diligently to maintain the quality of our educational system where it is strong and strive to improve it where it is not.

Bernanke is not the only respected economist talking about the importance of our schools to America's economy. His predecessor, Alan Greenspan, did the same in his new book, The Age of Turbulence. Here are two quotes:

A dysfunctional U.S. elementary and secondary education system has failed to prepare our students sufficiently rapidly to prevent a shortage of skilled workers and a surfeit of lesser-skilled ones, expanding the pay gap between the two groups. Unless America's education system can raise skill levels as quickly as technology requires, skilled workers will continue to earn greater wage increases, leading to ever more disturbing extremes of income concentration. (Page 505)


Our students are average or above, at age nine or ten. What do we do to them in the next seven or eight years that they test so poorly relative to their peers in other countries? What do we do to their learning process that requires business recruiters to dismiss vast numbers of ‘educated' applicants for modestly skilled jobs because they cannot write coherent sentences or add a column of numbers accurately? (Page 399)

If these two men are concerned, shouldn't the rest of us be concerned? And more importantly, shouldn't the people who aspire to hold the highest elected office in the land be concerned? And shouldn't they be creating plans to do something about it?


I think so. I've asked the ED in 08 staff to pull together more information from these two men. We'll have more to say about this.