The Education Myth revisited

I like Robert Reich: he's been one of the more thoughtful and on-target progressive policymakers and pundits since his days as Labor Secretary in the Clinton administration. However....

The Future of Manufacturing: Workforce Education - Salon

Here's the letter I wrote in response. (N.B.: Most of the other responses are very good and well worth reading.)

As usual, Mr. Reich's heart is in the right place. However, I am increasingly dismayed by his credulous cheerleading for what Jonathan Tasini and other commentators have dubbed "The Education Myth."

As others on this forum have ably noted:

1) Many cannot afford the necessary retraining, and even if they could, sufficient facilities do not exist.

2) Many do not have the *aptitude* for the kind of higher-order "symbolic-analytic" thinking that has a well-paying job attached to it. (You edu-optimists always neglect this point.) This lack of aptitude can manifest itself as a lack of technical chops (my problem) or a lack of scholastic chops in general. Mr. Reich, maybe you think education is the answer for everyone because everyone you know can master technical/academic skills with one brain lobe tied behind their backs. But many, many of us are not wired up that way -- and that leaves you advancing a solution with rather limited applicability and, therefore, limited utility. A solution that only improves things for 20 percent of Americans is an elite solution -- and we've had far too many of those. When a Wal-Mart clerk no longer has to worry about making rent or putting food on the table or paying her family's medical bills -- *then* we'll have a solution that's worthy of the name.

3) Guess what? Not everyone *wants* to do "symbolic-analytic" work, even if they are able. Mr. Reich, are you arguing that, in order to make a decent living, everyone will be forced to reshape themselves to fit into the same cramped vocational hole? If so, it's a dreary, depressing future you foresee.