Students Will Be Our “Workers or Prisoners”

We all get it. Good jobs = good income = better quality of life.  We all want better skills so we can get better jobs to provide for our families. We want to be the workers, the business owners, and the bosses who keep the U.S. economy strong. We are tired of hearing about problems; we want solutions.

But are we working on solutions that will work for all of us? Consider this:

• 66% of black and Hispanic students in Pennsylvania attend a school with one counselor for over 400 students.
• While 92% of white students in PA attend a school that offers calculus, only 67% of black and 76% of Hispanic students do.
  
• Black and Hispanic students are much more likely to be suspended in this state than students of the same race and ethnicity in neighoring states and nationally.
  

Access to counselors is associated with fewer disciplinary problems, higher graduation rates and a greater likelihood of college enrollment. Taking classes that are rigorous in high school like chemistry, physics and calculus prepares students for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors.

But in PA, much of our future workforce does not have the skills necessary to get good jobs. In fact, this data, compiled by Research For Action, tells us that some of the students that we are depending on to drive our economy are spending 12 years in school, but are coming into the workforce at a level of skill 3 years behind others. The educational disparities that exist in Pennsylvania are greater than those of almost any other state in the nation.

That’s not surprising as the state has the widest school funding disparity between rich and poor districts in the country. Meanwhile, the increase in state corrections spending is more than double the rate of increase for education. 

Today’s students will either be our workers or our prisoners. They will either shape the economy or drain it. Wise investments yield positive gains. If we invest in all our children by providing counselors, qualified staff and career-enhancing courses to close the achievement gap, the cost of the reforms would be small compared to what we would gain – an estimated $551 billion-dollar economic boost with compounded interest.