The New Middle Class Creating Wealth, Wages and Opportunity
in the 21st Century by Steve Gunderson delves into the problems
faced by middle class Americans. He expresses concern over the mismatch of
American values, education, economic policy and American competitiveness. The
middle class is slipping away and policy makers should consider new ways of
encouraging a 4-5% growth rate and higher levels of educational attainment to
maintain prosperity.
National development should be based on those values that
made America great. It is the desire to continue to move up the economic ranks while
not ignoring wider responsibilities. Yet without improving upon the education
system the grasps of middle class are sifting through the hands of those who
desire it the most. The system needs to change and improve if the U.S. will
maintain its competitive stance.
The far majority of jobs today (85%) need some secondary
education beyond high school. The path
to maintaining the middle class is through education. It is a process of
learning the skills, trades, theories, processes, technology, and values that
will help individual families grow so that the nation may continue to lead. The
quality of education, way in which government views education and economic
policies should be reviewed.
Students will need to continue to learn throughout their
lives and become the life-long learner. As the environment changes they will
need to ensure that their skills are updated to match current needs. To
graduate and never update one’s understandings doesn’t fulfill either
individual or national needs. Those with less than a high school education
earned approximately $21K per year while those with a bachelor’s degree earned
approximately $58K per year creating a wide disparity. Income and life-long
learning go together.
He provides the following strategies:
Strategy
1: Create a system for lifelong learning by engaging
public-sector-private-sector partnerships.
Strategy
2: Create a growth economy in the U.S., enabling most Americans to work,
succeed, and build a future.
Strategy
3: Create a new era of income security for individuals and families.
Steven Gunderson was raised in rural Wisconsin and made his
way into both Wisconsin and national politics.
He spent eight years in the house and was appointed to the White House
Fellows program in 2010. The White House Fellows program was developed by
President Johnson in 1964 and outlined its objective as, "to give the
Fellows first hand, high-level experience with the workings of the federal
government and to increase their sense of participation in national
affairs." He is currently the
President of and CEO of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and
Universities. You may learn more about
him at Career.org
