Education as the critical problem behind inequality

Instead of only linking to this great NY Times piece that many of my readers can't get without going through the free online subscription process, I'm going to link to a great blog post that talks about the article. The great post can be found here from the guys at Marginal Revolution.

A telling excerpt:

Income distribution thus depends on the balance between technological progress and access to college and postgraduate study. The problem isn’t so much capitalism as it is that American lower education does not prepare enough people to receive gains from American higher education.

Bottlenecks currently keep more individuals from improving their education. Professor Katz has suggested changes at multiple levels, including additional college aid, more-accessible community colleges, easier financial aid forms, more serious attempts to identify and retain top teachers in high schools and school voucher experiments.

It doesn’t suffice simply to increase the number of people in college; rather the new students must be prepared to learn. There is, however, no single magic bullet.

Blogs are everywhere!

It was only a matter of time before colleges started using blogs. It's not surprising, of course, given that these tools for communication give the colleges that utilize them a competitive edge. It's also not surprising given the general proliferation of blogs; I recommend visiting Technorati for some insight into the popularity of blogs.

Of course, the proliferation of blogs brings some downsides. The first is that some blogs just aren't very good; of course, I'd venture to say that those generally fade away or end up becoming better. The second downside, at least when it comes to blogs and education, is that colleges may end up censoring the blogs they're so keen to adapt... I understand a blog would go over the top if, for example, it were specifically attacking someone without merit; however, that doesn't seem to be the case when you read the article and discover that some colleges censor what they don't like. An administrator censoring a blog because they don't like seeing something negative about the college, especially if it's true, defeats the purpose of having a blog.

It's sometimes tough to balance a blog when it comes to reporting, commentary, and business interests. I try to have a good balance and not have overly heavy commentary, I try to see all sides of an issue, and report what I read as fairly as possible. I also try not to advertise our company blatantly, since that would be plainly annoying and not the main purpose of this blog.

I emphasize that the main point of this blog is to provide timely news, commentary, and tips on education and tutoring. If I ever stray from that (hopefully not!), please let me know.