Transcript
RON HASKINS: The differences between not just the current income of a college graduate, compared with a high school graduate, compared with a high school dropout, not only is that difference spectacular, the average difference in 2007 between a college graduate, four year college graduate and a high school graduate was $33,000 a year. That’s a huge amount of money. No government program has ever come even close to producing an average difference like that.
But equally interesting is the pattern over time. So people who go to college, two year colleges, people are get a four year degree, doctoral students and professional students, for the last 30 years, their income has been going up substantially; high school graduates, high school dropouts -- flat. So, clearly, if we are going to address income and equality in our society, and increase opportunity for low income and minority students, college is really a very, very productive route. So we need to think about how we get more of these kids into college.
Not only would it produce mobility, I’m not going to get into kind of the sociological effects here, but I think everybody in this room recognizes that one of the most important benefits of a college education is, it gives you choices. And when you’re stuck with low wage jobs, the thing that you lack the most probably is choices. You’ve got to take the best you can get, whereas, with a college degree, you have lots of choices, you’re already experienced, you can get into additional training programs, so it really opens up the future.So the high school should play a very important role in preparing kids for college.
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