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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > January > 08 > Entry
Post industrial Midwest: not sure education matters
A good friend in Chicago pointed me today to a big story in the Chicago Tribune Sunday magazine called “Can the Midwest regain its economic clout?”
The story discussed Midwestern industrial cities in general and Dayton specifically, describing how they became fat and happy as the Silicon Valley of the industrial age. People who live in Dayton and other cities were conditioned to believe there would always be union jobs with good wages that didn’t require an advanced education, the story argues.
And, it says, that attitude persists today. From the story:
A Michigan scholar, John Austin, has written about how Midwestern innovation curdled into “a culture of expectation and entitlement around the success of the mass-production economy and the prosperous middle-class life it afforded. A sense that this relative prosperity would always endure, that the region could reap good wages without education and continuing innovation, stilled the dynamic of entrepreneurialism and economic churn that built the nation.” This attitude is on full view in Austin’s Michigan. A poll there revealed that 60 percent of Michigan parents did not see higher education as crucial to their children’s future. They weren’t hostile, exactly, but didn’t think it was vital. When I told experts in Ohio and Indiana about the Michigan results, they gasped, then agreed that similar polls in their states would produce similar answers.
Education — and a changed attitude about its value — is what the Midwest needs to regain its edge, the story argues.
What do you think of this premise? Do you agree that Daytonians don’t place enough value on education and that is a major factor in the city’s decline?
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Comments
By Jeffery
January 9, 2008 10:19 PM | Link to this
I recall reading that the local tool & die industry was having problems recruiting replacement workers for people who retire. One doens’t need a full college education for that kind of work. But one does need education beyond high school. And the Riverdale Ghost is correct as to what caused Dayton’s decline.By Riverdale Ghost
January 9, 2008 9:28 PM | Link to this
And my point, Worried DPS Parent, is that you are worthwhile just as you are.By Worried DPS Parent
January 9, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this
From my own experience I can say that some kind of higher education beyond a Bachelors will become, (if it is not already), a necessity. As someone who never applied themself academically, I definitely feel that it will limit my future. Being in my late 30’s now it is disheartening to me that I will not possibly get a Bachelors until I’m in my 40’s whilst there’s “bright, young things” coming straight out of Wright State or UD with theirs, who are going to just leap over my head. Rest assured my kids will be learning the value of going beyond a Bachelors…By Riverdale Ghost
January 8, 2008 9:32 PM | Link to this
In answer to the question: No. The principle reason for the decline is the growth of suburbia. Every genuine suburb out there is out to build it’s own community apart from (if not in spite of) Dayton; there is no longer a cross-section of people, not that there ever was a big one economically. That’s not to say that one big town would be better as one big town could turn into a teeming political cesspool. Fifty years ago, in college, on the question “Is a college education a necessity?” I won a debate with “no.” People are different with different abilities not to mention different goals in life. That’s the need teaching needs to meet, even if it does not mean extensive schooling. Every person is worthwhile in what “gifts” they have. To even suggest something like everyone should go to college is the kind of nonsense that provides us with crooked/criminal professionals who have managed to gain necessary credentials but who don’t have the interest and sometimes the actual ability or even the opportunity to do the work needed.By Oldprof
January 8, 2008 8:37 PM | Link to this
Why do pundits like this continue to get paid for their prognostications when people like me have been making the same points, gratis, for years now?By Mary
January 8, 2008 6:57 PM | Link to this
Very interesting article. Reminds me of CNN’s Lou Dobbs who has been ranting for months/years about war on the middle class, outsourcing America’s jobs overseas, illegal immigration, broken government, etc. I particularly agree with the comments about the culture of entitlements by everyday people, and the lack of loyalty by American CEOs. If our culture valued and had a quality education system,in addition to our high level of materialism, greed and entitlements, we would be able to predict, understand and overcome these problems better with intelligent systems. The economic development issue cannot be simplified to gimmicks, shopping malls, sports contests, and tourism, especially in areas lacking natural scenery like seashores and mountains. Trends I read about from other areas and cultures and that I think influence the future are growing more food locally, smaller farms, jobs and industry related to the green/environmental movement, anti-consumerism, etc. “Broken government” at the state, local and federal level that does not focus on basic infrastructure and long term approaches are a major problem. A few months, or maybe a year ago, the Dayton Daily News had an editorial about some of the fallacies of government officials approaches to economic development. I think New Orleans government officials should have focused on jobs and infrastructure related to things like levies maintenance, not the Superdome and NFL. The DDN editorial mentioned certain valuable, exportable intellectual ideas and industries need to be developed to have a long term positive economic impact on the local areas. My community is still losing tax dollars every year because they were stupid enough to think it was city government’s job to build a golf course. I am sure they still think golf courses and shopping malls are good ideas for economic development, but taxes keep going up. Many government officials, including those elected, are not very smart or well educated. So we reap what we sow.By Rich
January 8, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
Don’t know about the specific attitude of Daytonians toward the necessity of a college education, but the available evidence shows that Ohioans in general recognize its importance. Just go to the KnowledgeWorks Foundation website and look at these polling results from 2005: http://www.kwfdn.org/poll/2005/public_benefit/attitudes.asp?questionID=372#372 It’s clear from these results that people in THIS state have a good grasp of the importance of secondary and post-secondary education! While you’re at it, explore the entire www.kwfdn.org website — it’s fascinating.By Buford
January 8, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this
Now and for future times, it is going to be necessary for people to become educated beyond high school either through the “normal” college/university route, or technical schools such as ITT, or be accepted into apprenticeship in one of the trades. This is not new information or response to an immediate condition. The handwriting has been on the wall for some years. Some people read well, others not.