Recession and Education in America, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Recession in any countryis a period of time when the economy declines as is reflected by the reduction in the GDP for at least two consecutive quarterly reports. When this takes place, there will be rise in the rate of unemployment, food prices, failures in the housing market, reduction in the education budget, as well as changes inpeople’s attitude towards educating themselves, among other factors.

Reductions in the federal education budget will negatively impact several levels of the schooling system, even to the extent of causing people to stay in school longer than they originally intended, to get more qualified, so that they can enhance their employment prospects.

An alternate response may emanate, whereby some students will drop out of schoolbecause of a lack of financing, due to the impact of unemployment within the family, or the company that was financing going into bankruptcy or have terminated their services.

A third aspect of how a recessionary period can negatively affect education is the response of students who were initially planning to attend college or university. They may look at the state of the economy and the high costs of their education, as well as their parent’s financial limitations, and draw long term conclusions that things are not going to change, so they might as well scratch plans to further their education.

Educational Legislation

The United States Educational Department  had an excellent boost to its program, when (a) the Morrill Acts of 1860, (b) The GI Bill of Rights in 1944, following the end of 2^nd World War (c) The National Defense Education Act of 1957, after the Russian landed the Sputnik in space, were passed.

The Morrill Act of 1862, allowed states to acquire 30, 000 acres of land for the establishment of colleges and other training institutions majoring in Agriculture and Mechanical Arts,according to Britannica Encyclopedia. States were able, based on the number of districts they had, to sell portions of their lands and establish these institutions, or contribute the money towards their overall education budget (Britannica).

The Great Depression

Americans in general, made relatively good use of these opportunities for educational advancement, with high school graduation rate reaching 30%. This no doubt would have increased, but then came the great Depression of 1932. Massive job loss and poverty permeated the entire country, and destroyed the economic prospects of many promising students, as well as companies that would have offered employment to futuregraduates.

According to Total Bankruptcy (2011), it changed the way Americans viewed education. Many students, who could afford to stay in school, extended their studies to improve their chances of making a living.

Education was seen as the only viable option to lift the country out of the horrible recession it was facing, and soon the high school graduation rates began to climb and reached 40%. The New York Times saw the irony of the situation, and remarked that it had to take an economic disaster in the form of a recession, for many Americans to form a long term attitude towards education, according to Total Bankruptcy.

Economic Benefits

The economic benefits for the nation from this change in attitude, was that the high levels of graduates entering the job markets , and provided the technological, innovative, business, and other skills necessary for America to become the greatest economic force in the 20^th century. Great companies like IBM, USA Steel, General Motors, and RCA prospered tremendously.

However, as the nation prospered, and the demands for jobs were greater than supplies, the 2^nd World War arrived, to shift the equilibrium considerable to the left, back to the recessionary period the country had climbed out of using mass education as the springboard.

The Gi Bill of Rights

The US Government at the end of the war in1944,seemed to have realized that the large vacuum created by the loss of millions of human resources on the battlefield, had to be filled rapidly; if the nation was going to survive, when it introduced the GI Bill of Rights.

The GI Bill Act, according to The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, was one of the greatest participatory educational act the federal government has ever been involved.

This GI Bill was also called the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, and was designed to provide greater opportunities to returning war veterans of the 2^nd World War. Needs in areas such as hospitalization expenses, purchasing of homes, business, lands, and in particular educational advancement were made available.

Educationally, the package included provisions for tuition, books, supplies, equipment, and counseling services both at the high school as well as college levels.

Change

Over a seven year period, America began to experience change, according to The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, Approximately 8 million American war veterans took up the offer made by the government, and received benefits. Approximately 2.3 million of these attended colleges and universities, while 3.5m received on the job training in different skills at an overall cost of $1.85b to the government.

Economic Foundation

Education was therefore given a big boost, as enrollment increased increase significantly across campuses, and higher graduation rateswould ensuredthat businesses were adequately empowered to increase productivity, and generate millions of dollars in profits at home and abroad.

The economy was flourishing again, and fortunately education was the engine of growth, as well as a safety valve for the psychologically damaged veterans returning home. An outlet was provided to release their years of trauma and stress that has been built up.

Engineers and technicians who were militaristically aligned in the past, were retrained and released into the economy, to make significant contributions, which by themselves were most likely satisfying and motivating, compare to the destruction experienced  on the battlefields of Normandy and elsewhere.

Strategic Involvement of The Government

The government and educational leaders across the country, seemedto have been well organized strategically, in that the age of admittance to these higher educational institutions were raised beyond the 18-23 range, to cater for the millions of students that would be enrolling.

Training were also provided perhaps for the first time in mining, fisheries, agriculture, and the myth that education of the highest level was only for the privileged few began to disappear in the midst of a thriving economy.

Elementary and Secondary School Education Act

It was in this kind of atmosphere that President Lyndon Johnson on April 11, 1965, signed The Elementary and Secondary School Education Act in Stonewall Texas, the place where he attended school as a young boy.

His presence no doubt was political as well as motivationally inspiring to educators and children across the nation, especially when he remarked that he believed that no other piece of legislation he signed, would be as important as that he had just inked.

However, he might not have been cognizant of what lies ahead within the next two decades.

Economic Recession Of The 1980’s

Nearly two decades after the speech, an economic recession hit the country like it has never experienced since The Great Depression,and caused Education to take center stage once more, with many calling for reforms to more adequately cope with the national and global trends that were emerging, and negatively impacting on the country.

There were avalanches of reports from educational commissions, task forces, individual scholars, study groups, and conference gatherings, sincerely urging the government to make adjustments in the educational methodologies, in order to halt the economic recession and rescue the nation from the brink of collapse.

The recessions of the past were bad, but the one prevailing in the 1980’s seems more than the government could manage, in that technologicaldevelopment externally and internally left more Americans out of work, than at any other time in the history of the country since The Great Depression.

The high levels of the recession caused many who were educated and unemployed, to begin to wonder what was the value of their education, and how were they going to pay for the mountain of student debt that was accumulating before them on a monthly basis?

The reformers were finding it hard to b silent, when they are witnessing qualified students working for very low wages at places like McDonalds, while others dropping out of schools or staying longer to more effectively qualify themselves for the job market, and future leaders were unwisely choosing to stay in their seemingly secured dead end jobs,rather that enroll for college.

Either way, the government’s lack of action was sustaining the recession, because the reductions in those graduating will be a reflection of the amount enrolling, and staying in school, and this meant less skills being available for the job market, as well as less new businesses being developed to provide employment as well as taxes for the government.

The trend was reminiscent of the past and should have necessitated immediate attention.

Brain Drain

Snyder (2011) puts it well when he said that the recession was causing a brain drain on the economy. (Snyder.M.E.2011).

Americans were fast becoming uncompetitive on the global market as a  result of the recession, because countries like China, India and Japan to a lesser extent, had their educational priorities well established, and were rapidly climbing the technological and productivity ladder at a pace that was uncomfortable for the once mighty economic giant of the 1960’s.

Ironically, as the number of Americans that are graduating during this period was diminishing, despite having one of the highest enrollment rate in the world, students from countries like China, India, Brazil, Israel, and other countries were entering American institutions, graduating, and returning to their individual countries to aid in economic developments, that will pose as threat to the American market in the future.

Nafta and Wars

The recession can be traced to the legislative Act in 1995 that made NAFTA a reality for The USA, Canada and Mexico. Allowing free trade across all three countries, meant US companies can transfer their operations to Mexico, where the labor rates are highly inferior. This was done and as a result over 3 million American jobs were lost, creating a budget deficit of approximately $74b in the process, and a rising unemployment rate.

These jobs, because of their low cost to the American Manufacturers, were not coming back, and students graduating from high schools, colleges, and universities would find it difficult to gain meaningful employment.

The engagement of the government in two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) at the same time, has forced the diversion of much needed educational development funds,like what was available at the end of the 2^nd World War, to fight these battles. As a result,education budget cuts have become the norm rather than the exception, as the economy sinks deeper into recession.

The Department of Homeland Security for example, had its budget by 7% over 2008; the Defense Department $515.4b budget was 7.5% higher than the previous year, while the Education Department had just $69.4 b during the same period, to help the nation rise out of the recession it was facing.

Children entering the K-14 grade in California will find it difficult to have the benefits the veterans returning from the 2^nd World War had, because Governor Scharwneggar, in a somewhat microcosmic move, has cut their budget by a whopping $4.8b.

Conclusions

Recession and education therefore, are symbiotically linked throughout the history of the United States, and the lack of this appreciation in the leadership of the country, will lead to the prevention of the vitally needed human resource assets of the country tobe nourished continually at institution like high schools, colleges and universities, so that they can provide the kind of leadership the country will need to successfully compete on the global market.

During an economic boom, it is the educational skills that has been ingrained within the employees over years of training in various institutions that are bearing fruit, and are causing the nation and its industries to prosper concurrently, and whenever the situation is reversed, due to untenable events, investment should never be removed, as the recession will only be sustained for a longer period.

Reference

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of The University of Toronto History of Education: Selected Moments of the 20^th Century,www.utoronto.ca/legacy/edu20/moments/1944GIBILL.html?cms_page=edu20/moments/194 , 06/09/11 Web

Snyder, M.E. 2011).Recession Leading USA  to Education Decline www.rt.com/usa/news/debt/-education-college-jobs/, 06/09/11 Web

Britannica  Inc. www.britannica.com, 06/09/11Web

Total Bankruptcy (ND) Recession and its impact on education in America www.totalbankruptcy.com, 06/09/11 Web