Forbes – Karim Abouelnaga
“What’s the purpose of public education? To this day, I have never been among a group of people who have completely agreed on an answer. In fact, to whom you ask the question also matters. If you ask a college student, who is among the 7% of unemployed new graduates from the class of 2015, or a recent college graduate, who has an average student loan debt of around $37,172, you will probably hear an eagerness to work. If you ask an American voter who is jaded by our political system, you will probably hear a frustrated response that begins with them asserting that kids should go to school to be good citizens. If you ask an education reformer, like me, they will likely tell you the purpose of public education is to ensure that all kids have an equal opportunity at reaching their fullest potential. A college degree is still the most likely ticket out of poverty, with research by Brookings showing that a child born into poverty without a degree has a 45% chance of remaining there, but only a 16% chance with a college degree.”(more)