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The Value of Education

“education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” —nelson mandela.

I was so excited to wake up and see the headline on last Thursday’s newspaper: Next semester, juniors and underclassmen will for the first time be able to declare a secondary in Educational Studies. I’d heard rumors about a possible Education secondary that piqued my interest—I earned an associate’s degree in Education at the community college I attended before Harvard—but had no idea it would actually come to fruition in my remaining two years here. Giving students greater accessibility to formally exploring education, especially as an intersection to their respective concentrations, is a wonderful decision that will benefit many people at Harvard and beyond.

My mom has been a public elementary school teacher since before I was born, and because I grew up seeing just how much the job demanded from her, I always believed I’d never have anything to do with education. In community college, though, I heard rave reviews about an education class, and since I was undecided on my major, I took it. I enrolled in that class expecting to learn strictly teaching strategies and classroom management. To my surprise, it was centered around exploring the social and economic forces that shape the way our society interacts with and values schools and education. It made me rethink everything I knew about not only the American school system, but our society as a whole.

I learned about education inequality among races, incomes, and geographic locations. I learned about the critical role of community, school, and family support systems. I learned about the politics of education , the foundational policies, modern legislation, and ongoing issues of contention. Instead of simply learning how to teach, I learned how to better myself in order to help others learn. That was the most unexpected, yet fascinating part: I learned to identify my biases, empathize with others, acknowledge differences and establish common grounds, and build and maintain relationships with people very different from me—not just for the sake of teaching, but to be a greater positive influence on the world. I left that class with a much stronger appreciation of America’s education system, finally understanding the extent to which education intersects with all other aspects of our society.

Perhaps it was the unexpectedness of learning about schools, students, and myself as opposed to simple lesson planning, but the magic of this education class was that I began to notice and question things I’d always just passively accepted before. I started paying attention to how schools are funded and what kind of students different schools produce.

When I first came to Harvard, I was fascinated by student demographics and backgrounds . Quite a bit of what I learned in that class was applicable to daily life, too. I remember one class in which our professor explained student misbehavior as a possible manifestation of the frustrations of poverty, a difficult home life, and lack of a support system. This was a good lesson in learning about not only education but empathy, a reminder that you never know what someone else is going through.

That’s the value in exploring education through the new secondary, or even taking an education class or two. Studying education can provide you with a broader, more in-depth understanding of others, yourself, and the world around you. After all, learning is a lifelong endeavor; wouldn’t it be nice to better know who and what influences how you and others learn?

Every student at Harvard ended up here because of some kind of influence from the education system they grew up in, whether that system propelled them directly into a top university or they followed a less direct path. For students, it’s important to recognize the systems that enabled us to be here—and especially the political, social, and economic forces that drive those systems.

Educational Studies will enable us to do just that: better understand our own paths and, hopefully, better understand the forces that drive the paths of others. You might be surprised to see just how much the world of education intersects with your concentration; you might find out it intersects with fields you never would have expected. Even if you have no plans to pursue teaching or education careers, so much can be learned from this invaluable new program.

Emilee A. Hackney ’20 is an English concentrator living in Adams House. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.

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Post-Tribune | The importance of a college education

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Contrary to this false narrative, a college education is more important now than ever before, for both tangible and intangible reasons. A college degree is still the surest way to increase wage potential. In addition, with the rise of artificial intelligence and the consistent call for multi-talented and flexible critical thinkers in our workplaces, college is — and will increasingly be — the best way to prepare for an uncertain future.

From a wage perspective alone, college is crucial to finding security in the often-unstable and unpredictable economy of the 21st century. According to a report on the value of college majors conducted by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, “people who earn bachelor’s degrees and work full-time can expect to earn 84 percent more than their peers with a high school diploma over their lifetime.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education estimates this earnings gap to be more than $32,000 per year, resulting in a lifetime total of nearly $1.4 million. This conservative estimate assumes the wage gap will not increase, which it has done for decades. Beyond wage earnings, college graduates also receive increased employer-provided fringe benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans that result in better health and longer life expectancy.

In other words, investment in a college education yields an extremely strong return on investment, and any student (or parent) weighing the cost-benefits analysis of paying for higher education need only glance at those numbers to see that college is incredibly influential in terms of a person’s long-term financial stability and that its value is higher today than it ever has been. In addition, the Chronicle goes on to state that “graduates with bachelor’s degrees pay $563,000 more in taxes than high-school graduates who never attended college” — showing that these earnings benefit not just the individual but the greater economic environment as well.

Wage-earning potential is not the only way a college education paves the way toward a secure future. A 2018 report from Bain & Company Inc. examines how automation and artificial intelligence, among other factors, are changing the landscape of what it means to be a worker. The report predicts that “the rapid spread of automation may eliminate as many as 20 percent to 25 percent of current jobs — equivalent to 40 million displaced workers — and depress wage growth for many more workers.”

However, the researchers qualify this statement with the following: “The benefits of automation will likely flow to about 20 percent of workers — primarily highly compensated, highly skilled workers — as well as to the owners of capital.” Furthermore, “the demand for workers to build the automation tools of the future is already growing, and not only in fields such as engineering and software development.”

Tech companies will be calling for highly skilled employees trained in STEM-related fields, of course, but these same companies will need employees with communications, business and humanities backgrounds who can market their products, recruit potential investors and interact with clients and media. College graduates with industry-specific skills and the growth potential to weather the changes brought by artificial intelligence will contribute positively to the development, sale and use of technology as it changes the way we work.

While a college degree can certainly provide a student with specialized training in a particular field and higher income potential over a lifetime, what cannot be overlooked are the intangible skills that a college degree instills in its students. A 2016 study published in the Review of Educational Research found that “both critical thinking skills and dispositions improve substantially over a normal college experience”. A New York Federal Reserve study published in 2014 confirmed that “college instills in students ‘aptitudes, skills and other characteristics that make them different from those who do not go on to college’.”

In today’s ephemeral job market, where it is normal to have more jobs in the first three years out of college than our grandparents did during their entire lifetimes, the ability to tackle a wide array of problems, projects and proposals is priceless. Without a college degree, a person could still gain some of these skills, but a defining feature of a four-year degree is a steady stream of classes, experiential learning opportunities like internships or research and interpersonal interactions that uniquely prepare a student for a diverse working world. These are often posited as “soft” skills, yet it is these attributes gained on campus that are often what set one applicant apart from another, making a college degree an integral part of the job acquisition — and retention — process.

The world is changing at a rapid pace. While it isn’t entirely possible to know everything that will occur in the future, colleges and universities in Northwest Indiana — and across the country — are working diligently to prepare our students for what is to come. A college education is not the only path, but it is the strongest proven path toward financial stability, job retention and career malleability — and there is no way to put a price tag on that.

Mark A. Heckler, Ph.D., is the President of Valparaiso University.

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The turning point: Why we must transform education now

Global warming. Accelerated digital revolution. Growing inequalities. Democratic backsliding. Loss of biodiversity. Devastating pandemics. And the list goes on. These are just some of the most pressing challenges that we are facing today in our interconnected world.

The diagnosis is clear: Our current global education system is failing to address these alarming challenges and provide quality learning for everyone throughout life. We know that education today is not fulfilling its promise to help us shape peaceful, just, and sustainable societies. These findings were detailed in UNESCO’s Futures of Education Report in November 2021 which called for a new social contract for education.

That is why it has never been more crucial to reimagine the way we learn, what we learn and how we learn. The turning point is now. It’s time to transform education. How do we make that happen?

Here’s what you need to know. 

Why do we need to transform education?

The current state of the world calls for a major transformation in education to repair past injustices and enhance our capacity to act together for a more sustainable and just future. We must ensure the right to lifelong learning by providing all learners - of all ages in all contexts - the knowledge and skills they need to realize their full potential and live with dignity. Education can no longer be limited to a single period of one’s lifetime. Everyone, starting with the most marginalized and disadvantaged in our societies, must be entitled to learning opportunities throughout life both for employment and personal agency. A new social contract for education must unite us around collective endeavours and provide the knowledge and innovation needed to shape a better world anchored in social, economic, and environmental justice.  

What are the key areas that need to be transformed?

• Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools

Education is in crisis. High rates of poverty, exclusion and gender inequality continue to hold millions back from learning. Moreover, COVID-19 further exposed the inequities in education access and quality, and violence, armed conflict, disasters and reversal of women’s rights have increased insecurity. Inclusive, transformative education must ensure that all learners have unhindered access to and participation in education, that they are safe and healthy, free from violence and discrimination, and are supported with comprehensive care services within school settings. Transforming education requires a significant increase in investment in quality education, a strong foundation in comprehensive early childhood development and education, and must be underpinned by strong political commitment, sound planning, and a robust evidence base.

• Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development

There is a crisis in foundational learning, of literacy and numeracy skills among young learners. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text. Children with disabilities are 42% less likely to have foundational reading and numeracy skills compared to their peers. More than 771 million people still lack basic literacy skills, two-thirds of whom are women. Transforming education means empowering learners with knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to be resilient, adaptable and prepared for the uncertain future while contributing to human and planetary well-being and sustainable development. To do so, there must be emphasis on foundational learning for basic literacy and numeracy; education for sustainable development, which encompasses environmental and climate change education; and skills for employment and entrepreneurship.

• Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession

Teachers are essential for achieving learning outcomes, and for achieving SDG 4 and the transformation of education. But teachers and education personnel are confronted by four major challenges: Teacher shortages; lack of professional development opportunities; low status and working conditions; and lack of capacity to develop teacher leadership, autonomy and innovation. Accelerating progress toward SDG 4 and transforming education require that there is an adequate number of teachers to meet learners’ needs, and all education personnel are trained, motivated, and supported. This can only be possible when education is adequately funded, and policies recognize and support the teaching profession, to improve their status and working conditions.

• Digital learning and transformation

The COVID-19 crisis drove unprecedented innovations in remote learning through harnessing digital technologies. At the same time, the digital divide excluded many from learning, with nearly one-third of school-age children (463 million) without access to distance learning. These inequities in access meant some groups, such as young women and girls, were left out of learning opportunities. Digital transformation requires harnessing technology as part of larger systemic efforts to transform education, making it more inclusive, equitable, effective, relevant, and sustainable. Investments and action in digital learning should be guided by the three core principles: Center the most marginalized; Free, high-quality digital education content; and Pedagogical innovation and change.

• Financing of education

While global education spending has grown overall, it has been thwarted by high population growth, the surmounting costs of managing education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the diversion of aid to other emergencies, leaving a massive global education financial gap amounting to US$ 148 billion annually. In this context, the first step toward transformation is to urge funders to redirect resources back to education to close the funding gap. Following that, countries must have significantly increased and sustainable financing for achieving SDG 4 and that these resources must be equitably and effectively allocated and monitored. Addressing the gaps in education financing requires policy actions in three key areas: Mobilizing more resources, especially domestic; increasing efficiency and equity of allocations and expenditures; and improving education financing data. Finally, determining which areas needs to be financed, and how, will be informed by recommendations from each of the other four action tracks .

What is the Transforming Education Summit?

UNESCO is hosting the Transforming Education Pre-Summit on 28-30 June 2022, a meeting of  over 140 Ministers of Education, as well as  policy and business leaders and youth activists, who are coming together to build a roadmap to transform education globally. This meeting is a precursor to the Transforming Education Summit to be held on 19 September 2022 at the UN General Assembly in New York. This high-level summit is convened by the UN Secretary General to radically change our approach to education systems. Focusing on 5 key areas of transformation, the meeting seeks to mobilize political ambition, action, solutions and solidarity to transform education: to take stock of efforts to recover pandemic-related learning losses; to reimagine education systems for the world of today and tomorrow; and to revitalize national and global efforts to achieve SDG-4.

• More on the Transforming Education Summit
• More on the Pre-Summit

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• SDG: SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

This article is related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals .

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The Unexpected Value of the Liberal Arts

First-generation students are finding personal and professional fulfillment in the humanities and social sciences.

Growing up in Southern California, Mai-Ling Garcia’s grades were ragged; her long-term plans nonexistent. At age 20, she was living with her in-laws halfway between Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert, while her husband was stationed abroad. Tired of working subsistence jobs, she decided in 2001 to try a few classes at Mount San Jacinto community college.

Nobody pegged her for greatness at first. A psychology professor, Maria Lopez-Moreno recalls Garcia sitting in the midst of a lecture hall, fiddling constantly with a cream-colored scarf. Then something started to catch. After a spirited discussion about the basis for criminal behavior, Lopez-Moreno took this newcomer aside after class and asked: “Why are you here?”

Garcia blurted out a tangled story of marrying a Marine right after high school, seeing him head off to Iraq, and not knowing what to do next. Lopez-Moreno couldn’t walk away. “I said to myself: ‘Uh-oh. I’ve got to suggest something to her.’” At her professor’s urging, Garcia applied for a place in Mt. San Jacinto’s honors program—and began to thrive.

Nourished by smaller classes and motivated peers, Garcia earned straight-A grades for the first time. She emerged as a leader in diversity initiatives, too, drawing on her own multicultural heritage (Filipino and Irish). Shortly before graduation, she won admission to the University of California, Berkeley, campus, where she could pursue a bachelor’s degree.

Today, Garcia is a leading digital strategist for the city of Oakland, California. Rather than rely on an M.B.A. or a technical major, she has capitalized on a seldom-appreciated liberal-arts discipline—sociology—to power her career forward. Now, she describes herself as a “bureaucratic ninja” who doesn’t hide her stormy journey. Instead, she recognizes it as a valuable asset.

“I know what it’s like to be too poor to own a computer,” Garcia told me recently. “I’m the one in meetings who asks: ‘Never mind how well this new app works on an iPhone. Will it run on an old, public-library computer, because that’s the only way some of our residents will get to use it?’”

By its very name, the liberal-arts pathway is tinged with privilege. Blame this on Cicero, the ancient Roman orator, who championed the arts quae libero sunt dignae ( cerebral studies suited for freemen), as opposed to the practical, servile arts suited for lower-class tradespeople. Even today, liberal-arts majors in the humanities and social sciences often are portrayed as pursuing elitist specialties that only affluent, well-connected students can afford.

Look more closely, though, and this old stereotype is starting to crumble. In 2016, the National Association of Colleges and Employers surveyed 5,013 graduating seniors about their family backgrounds and academic paths. The students most likely to major in the humanities or social sciences—33.8 percent of them—were those who were the first generation in their family ever to have earned college degrees. By contrast, students whose parents or other forbears had completed college chose the humanities or social sciences 30.4 percent of the time.

Pursuing the liberal-arts track isn’t a quick path to riches. First-job salaries tend to be lower than what’s available with vocational degrees in fields such as nursing, accounting, or computer science. That’s especially true for first-generation students, who aren’t as likely to enjoy family-aided access to top employers. NACE found that first-generation students on average received post-graduation starting salaries of $43,320, about 12 percent below the pay packages being landed by peers with multiple generations of college experience.

Yet over time, liberal-arts graduates’ earnings often surge, especially for students pursuing advanced degrees. History majors often become well-paid lawyers or judges after completing law degrees, a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project has found. Many philosophy majors put their analytical and argumentative skills to work on Wall Street. International-relations majors thrive as overseas executives for big corporations, and so on.

For college leaders, the liberal arts’ appeal across the socioeconomic spectrum is both exciting and daunting. As Dan Porterfield, the president of Pennsylvania’s Franklin and Marshall College, points out, first-generation students “may come to college thinking: ‘I want to be a doctor. I want to help people.’ Then they discover anthropology, earth sciences, and many other new fields. They start to fall in love with the idea of being a writer or an entrepreneur. They realize: ‘I just didn’t have a broad enough vision of how to be a difference maker in society.’”

A close look at the career trajectories of liberal-arts graduates highlights five factors—beyond traditional classroom academics—that can spur long-term success for anyone from a non-elite background. Strong support from a faculty mentor is a powerful early propellant. In a survey of about 1,000 college graduates, Richard Detweiler, president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association,  found that students who sought out faculty mentors were nearly twice as likely to end up in leadership positions later in life.

Other positive factors include a commitment to keep learning after college; a willingness to move to major U.S. job hubs such as Seattle, Silicon Valley, or the greater Washington, D.C., area; and the audacity to dream big. Finally, students who enter college without well-connected relatives—the sorts who can tell you what classes to take or how to win a choice summer internship—benefit from programs designed to build up professional networks and social capital.

Among the groups offering career-readiness programs on campus is Braven, a nonprofit founded by Aimée Eubanks Davis, a former Teach for America executive. Making its debut in 2014, Braven already has reached about 1,000 students at Rutgers University-Newark in New Jersey and San Jose State University in California. Expansion into the Midwest is on tap. Braven mixes students majoring in the liberal arts and those pursuing vocational degrees in each cohort, the theory being that all can learn from one another.

One of Braven’s Newark enrollees in 2015 was Dyllan Brown-Bramble, a transfer student earning strong grades in psychology, who didn’t feel at all connected to the New Jersey campus. Commuting from his parents’ home, he usually arrived at Rutgers just a few minutes before 10 a.m. classes started. Once afternoon courses were done, he’d retreat to Parking Lot B and rev up his 2003 Sentra. By 3:50 p.m., he’d be gone.

Brown-Bramble’s parents are immigrants from Dominica. His father runs a small construction business; his mother, a Baruch College graduate, manages a tourism office. Privately, the Rutgers student is quite proud of them, but it seemed pointless to explain his Caribbean origins to strangers. They typically reacted inappropriately. Some imagined him to be the son of dirt-poor refugees struggling to rise above a shabby past. Others assumed he was a world-class genius: “an astrophysicist who could fly.” There wasn’t any room for him to be himself.

When Brown-Bramble encountered a campus flier urging students to enroll in small evening workshops called the Braven Career Accelerator, he took the bait. “I knew I was supposed to be networking in college,” he later told me. “I thought: Okay, here’s a chance to do something.”

Suddenly, Rutgers became more compelling. For nine weeks, Brown-Bramble and four other students of color became evening allies. They met in an empty classroom each Tuesday at six to construct LinkedIn profiles and practice mock interviews. They picked up tips about local internships, aided by a volunteer coach whose life and background was much like theirs. They united as a group, discussing each person’s weekly highs and lows while encouraging one another to keep trying for internships and better grades. “We had a saying,” Brown-Bramble recalled. “If one of us succeeds, all of us succeed.”

Most of the volunteer coaches came from minority backgrounds, too. Among them: Josmar Tejeda, who had graduated from the New Jersey Institute of Technology five years earlier with an architecture degree. Since graduating, Tejeda had worked at everything from social-media jobs to being an asbestos inspector. As the coach for Brown-Bramble’s group, Tejeda combined relentless optimism with an acknowledgment that getting ahead wasn’t easy.

“Keep it real,” Tejeda kept telling his students as they talked through case studies and their own goals. Everyone did so. That feeling of being the only black or Latino person in the room? The awkwardness of always being asked: Where are you from? The strains of always trying to be the “model minority”? Familiar territory for everyone.

“It was liberating,” Brown-Bramble told me. Surrounded by sympathetic peers, Brown-Bramble discovered new ways to share his heritage in job interviews. Yes, some of his Caribbean relatives had arrived in the United States not knowing how to fill out government forms. As a boy, he had needed to help them. But that was all right. In fact, it was a hidden strength. “I could create a culture story that worked for me,” Brown-Bramble said. “I can relate to people with different backgrounds. There’s nothing about me that I have to rise above.”

This summer, with the support of Inroads , a nonprofit that promotes workforce diversity, Brown-Bramble is interning in the compliance department of Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical maker. Riding the strength of a 3.8 grade-point average, he plans to get a law degree and work in a corporate setting for a few years to pay off his student loans. Then he hopes to set up his own law firm, specializing in start-up formation. “I’d like to help other entrepreneurs do things in Newark,” he told me.

Organizations like Braven draw on “the power of the cohort,” said Shirley Collado, the president of Ithaca College and a former top administrator at Rutgers-Newark. When students settle into small groups with trustworthy peers, she explained, candor takes hold. The sterile dynamic of large lectures and solo homework assignments gives way to a motivation-boosting alliance among seat mates and coaches. “You build social capital where it didn’t exist before,” Collado said.

For Mai-Ling Garcia, the leap from community college to Berkeley was perilous. Arriving at the famous university’s campus, she and her then-husband were so short on cash that they subsisted most days on bowls of ramen. Scraping by on partial scholarships, neither knew how to get the maximum available financial aid. To cover expenses, Garcia took a part-time job teaching art at a grade-school recreation center in Oakland.

Finishing college can become impossible in such circumstances. During her second semester, Garcia began tracking down what she now refers to as “a series of odd little foundations with funky scholarships.” People wanted to help her. Before long, she was attending Berkeley on a full ride. Her money problems abated. What she couldn’t forget was that initial feeling of being in trouble and ill-prepared. Her travails were pulling her into sociology’s most pressing issues: how vulnerable people fare in a world they don’t understand, and what can be done to improve their lives.

Simultaneously, Berkeley’s professors were arming Garcia with tools that would define her career. She spent a year learning the fine points of ethnography from a Vietnam-era Marine, Martin Sanchez-Jankowski, who taught students how to conduct field research. He sent Garcia into the Oakland courthouse to watch judges in action, advising her to heed the ways racial differences tinged courtroom conduct. She learned to take careful notes, to be explicit about her theories and assumptions, and to operate with a rigor that could withstand peer-review scrutiny. Her professors would stay in academia; she was being trained to have an impact in the wider world.

What can one do with a sociology degree? Garcia tried a lot of different jobs in her first few years after graduation. She spent two years at a nonprofit trying to untangle Veterans Administration bureaucracy. After that, she dedicated three years to a position at the Department of Labor, winning many small battles related to veterans’ employment. She had found job security, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that a technology revolution was racing through the private sector—and leaving government far behind.

Companies like Lyft, Airbnb, and Instagram were putting new powers in the public’s hands, giving them handy tools to hail a ride, find lodging, or share photos. By comparison, trying to change a jury-duty date remained a clumsy slog through outdated websites. Instead of bemoaning this tech gap, Garcia decided to gain vital tech skills herself. She signed up for evening classes in digital marketing and refined that knowledge during an 18-month stint at a startup. Then she began hunting for a government job with impact.

In 2014, Garcia joined the City of Oakland as a bridge builder who could amp up online government services on behalf of the city’s 400,000 residents. This wasn’t just an exercise in technology upgrading; it required a fundamental rethinking of the way that Oakland delivered services. Buffers between city workers and an impatient public would come down. The social structures of power would change. To make this transition, it helped to have a digitally savvy sociologist in the house.

Over coffee one afternoon, Garcia told me excitedly about the progress that she and the city communications manager were achieving with their initiative. If street-art creators want more recognition for their work, Garcia can drum up interest on social media. If garbage is piling up, new digital tools let citizens visit the city’s Facebook page and summon services within seconds.

Looking ahead, Garcia envisions a day when landing a municipal job becomes vastly easier, with cities’ Twitter feeds posting each new opening. Other aspects of digital technology ought to help residents connect quickly with whatever part of government matters to them—whether that means signing up for summer camp or giving the mayor a piece of one’s mind.

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This article has been adapted from George Anders’s new book, You Can Do Anything.

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Students and families deserve more information about the value of college

For decades, earning a college degree has been seen as a sure path to a better career and life. This was true for my family. My parents didn’t have debt associated with going to college even though they grew up poor. Thanks to the GI Bill, my dad attended college as a veteran, his tuition covered in exchange for his military service. Back then, the cost of college was low enough that my mom worked and paid her way through.

My own path to a college degree was made possible through scholarships and working while in school. Even so, I had a lot of debt when my college experience came to an end and I got my degree. It felt overwhelming at the time. Fortunately, my career choice afforded me a good salary and the ability to pay off my debt and realize the value of my investment in a college education. My college education was worth the time and money. But honestly, that was more a function of luck than it should have been. A lot has changed since then, with the most striking change being the fact that the cost of college has skyrocketed, along with the scenarios for paying for college looking very different today and skepticism from many Americans about the modern value of college.

This means the stakes for students and families making decisions about education after high school have never been higher.

Is college worth it?

It’s a question many Americans are asking, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic . And it’s justified: The return on investment (ROI) has not been well understood, and the results are uneven. That is why we’ve partnered with the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP)  to support the Postsecondary Value Commission and its efforts to answer this very question.

There is still value in a college degree

Here’s what we know: Postsecondary education  after high school has real value, and the vast majority of students who complete collegiate degrees see better economic outcomes than students who don’t. Yet concerns about the ROI of college are growing. What concerns me most is that the returns on education after high school continue to vary greatly by students’ race, ethnicity, gender , and where they come from. For example, even before COVID-19, our nation’s postsecondary and workforce systems produced inequitable results that saw Latino adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher earning 25% less than their white peers and Black adults with the same degree earning 21% less.

In 2019, the Postsecondary Value Commission, whose members include 30 diverse leaders representing colleges and universities, policymakers, advocates, researchers, the business community and students, set out to determine how the value of a college education can be defined, measured, and acted on. This effort is rooted in the belief that all students should have equitable economic opportunities  and social mobility beyond their higher education, and that student access to data  and greater transparency is part of the solution to ensuring racial, ethnic, and women’s economic empowerment  for students across the country.

Recognizing who benefits from college and how it can be more equitable

In its recently released final report and action agenda , the commission has taken a big step forward in proposing a new approach to measuring value that includes who benefits from education after high school as well as how and how much they benefit. This critical information can empower current and prospective students and families to ask key questions about the returns from specific institutions and programs.

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The report also forces us all—including funders, institutional leaders, policymakers, and others—to grapple with the deep inequities in higher education and their impact on our society. For example, what does it say about opportunity in America when a white college grad has eight times the wealth of a Black college graduate? What does it mean for our economy when graduates of literally hundreds of colleges and universities fail to see a minimum economic return—which the Postsecondary Value Commission defines as earning at or above the level of high school graduates in the same region, plus the net price paid for a degree— 10 years after they graduate?

Taking action on the inequities in the value of a college education

Questions about the ROI of higher education require more than analysis and reflection. They require action. That is why the commission’s action agenda puts forward clear recommendations for what institutional leaders and policymakers can do to increase equitable value for all students. For example, both public and private colleges and universities can create clearer and smarter paths to earning credentials that reduce the time and money students need to invest. State and federal policymakers can better target student aid dollars to the most financially vulnerable students, strengthening investment in colleges and universities that are truly serving (not just enrolling) a significant number of diverse students.

Through the hard work of higher education institutions, educators, advisors, policymakers, and funders, our country has made tremendous strides in expanding college access and improving college completion for all students. And while that work continues, it isn’t enough.

The time has come for a similar movement for equitable value and transparency. It has become commonplace for colleges and universities to brag about their low acceptance rates, or how many students they turn away, as a marker for what makes a “good” college.

Imagine if instead we designed programs and invested in policies centered on equity and continuous improvement, ones that would give students, families, and communities the information they need to make great decisions for themselves when it comes to higher education.

The Value Commission shows us a path to that future. Through their work, we have the chance to expand opportunity and truly deliver on the promise of higher education for millions of college students. Our foundation is proud to support this college enrollment effort, and we’re excited to continue to work with our partners toward a shared goal of increasing equitable value for all students.

How to help students get to college in the COVID era

Why black colleges and universities are america’s newest–and most critical–diagnostic testing hubs, for black and latino students, and students experiencing poverty, mastering algebra 1 is the x-factor.

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What Is Education For?

Read an excerpt from a new book by Sir Ken Robinson and Kate Robinson, which calls for redesigning education for the future.

What is education for? As it happens, people differ sharply on this question. It is what is known as an “essentially contested concept.” Like “democracy” and “justice,” “education” means different things to different people. Various factors can contribute to a person’s understanding of the purpose of education, including their background and circumstances. It is also inflected by how they view related issues such as ethnicity, gender, and social class. Still, not having an agreed-upon definition of education doesn’t mean we can’t discuss it or do anything about it.

We just need to be clear on terms. There are a few terms that are often confused or used interchangeably—“learning,” “education,” “training,” and “school”—but there are important differences between them. Learning is the process of acquiring new skills and understanding. Education is an organized system of learning. Training is a type of education that is focused on learning specific skills. A school is a community of learners: a group that comes together to learn with and from each other. It is vital that we differentiate these terms: children love to learn, they do it naturally; many have a hard time with education, and some have big problems with school.

There are many assumptions of compulsory education. One is that young people need to know, understand, and be able to do certain things that they most likely would not if they were left to their own devices. What these things are and how best to ensure students learn them are complicated and often controversial issues. Another assumption is that compulsory education is a preparation for what will come afterward, like getting a good job or going on to higher education.

So, what does it mean to be educated now? Well, I believe that education should expand our consciousness, capabilities, sensitivities, and cultural understanding. It should enlarge our worldview. As we all live in two worlds—the world within you that exists only because you do, and the world around you—the core purpose of education is to enable students to understand both worlds. In today’s climate, there is also a new and urgent challenge: to provide forms of education that engage young people with the global-economic issues of environmental well-being.

This core purpose of education can be broken down into four basic purposes.

Education should enable young people to engage with the world within them as well as the world around them. In Western cultures, there is a firm distinction between the two worlds, between thinking and feeling, objectivity and subjectivity. This distinction is misguided. There is a deep correlation between our experience of the world around us and how we feel. As we explored in the previous chapters, all individuals have unique strengths and weaknesses, outlooks and personalities. Students do not come in standard physical shapes, nor do their abilities and personalities. They all have their own aptitudes and dispositions and different ways of understanding things. Education is therefore deeply personal. It is about cultivating the minds and hearts of living people. Engaging them as individuals is at the heart of raising achievement.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasizes that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” and that “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Many of the deepest problems in current systems of education result from losing sight of this basic principle.

Schools should enable students to understand their own cultures and to respect the diversity of others. There are various definitions of culture, but in this context the most appropriate is “the values and forms of behavior that characterize different social groups.” To put it more bluntly, it is “the way we do things around here.” Education is one of the ways that communities pass on their values from one generation to the next. For some, education is a way of preserving a culture against outside influences. For others, it is a way of promoting cultural tolerance. As the world becomes more crowded and connected, it is becoming more complex culturally. Living respectfully with diversity is not just an ethical choice, it is a practical imperative.

There should be three cultural priorities for schools: to help students understand their own cultures, to understand other cultures, and to promote a sense of cultural tolerance and coexistence. The lives of all communities can be hugely enriched by celebrating their own cultures and the practices and traditions of other cultures.

Education should enable students to become economically responsible and independent. This is one of the reasons governments take such a keen interest in education: they know that an educated workforce is essential to creating economic prosperity. Leaders of the Industrial Revolution knew that education was critical to creating the types of workforce they required, too. But the world of work has changed so profoundly since then, and continues to do so at an ever-quickening pace. We know that many of the jobs of previous decades are disappearing and being rapidly replaced by contemporary counterparts. It is almost impossible to predict the direction of advancing technologies, and where they will take us.

How can schools prepare students to navigate this ever-changing economic landscape? They must connect students with their unique talents and interests, dissolve the division between academic and vocational programs, and foster practical partnerships between schools and the world of work, so that young people can experience working environments as part of their education, not simply when it is time for them to enter the labor market.

Education should enable young people to become active and compassionate citizens. We live in densely woven social systems. The benefits we derive from them depend on our working together to sustain them. The empowerment of individuals has to be balanced by practicing the values and responsibilities of collective life, and of democracy in particular. Our freedoms in democratic societies are not automatic. They come from centuries of struggle against tyranny and autocracy and those who foment sectarianism, hatred, and fear. Those struggles are far from over. As John Dewey observed, “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”

For a democratic society to function, it depends upon the majority of its people to be active within the democratic process. In many democracies, this is increasingly not the case. Schools should engage students in becoming active, and proactive, democratic participants. An academic civics course will scratch the surface, but to nurture a deeply rooted respect for democracy, it is essential to give young people real-life democratic experiences long before they come of age to vote.

Eight Core Competencies

The conventional curriculum is based on a collection of separate subjects. These are prioritized according to beliefs around the limited understanding of intelligence we discussed in the previous chapter, as well as what is deemed to be important later in life. The idea of “subjects” suggests that each subject, whether mathematics, science, art, or language, stands completely separate from all the other subjects. This is problematic. Mathematics, for example, is not defined only by propositional knowledge; it is a combination of types of knowledge, including concepts, processes, and methods as well as propositional knowledge. This is also true of science, art, and languages, and of all other subjects. It is therefore much more useful to focus on the concept of disciplines rather than subjects.

Disciplines are fluid; they constantly merge and collaborate. In focusing on disciplines rather than subjects we can also explore the concept of interdisciplinary learning. This is a much more holistic approach that mirrors real life more closely—it is rare that activities outside of school are as clearly segregated as conventional curriculums suggest. A journalist writing an article, for example, must be able to call upon skills of conversation, deductive reasoning, literacy, and social sciences. A surgeon must understand the academic concept of the patient’s condition, as well as the practical application of the appropriate procedure. At least, we would certainly hope this is the case should we find ourselves being wheeled into surgery.

The concept of disciplines brings us to a better starting point when planning the curriculum, which is to ask what students should know and be able to do as a result of their education. The four purposes above suggest eight core competencies that, if properly integrated into education, will equip students who leave school to engage in the economic, cultural, social, and personal challenges they will inevitably face in their lives. These competencies are curiosity, creativity, criticism, communication, collaboration, compassion, composure, and citizenship. Rather than be triggered by age, they should be interwoven from the beginning of a student’s educational journey and nurtured throughout.

From Imagine If: Creating a Future for Us All by Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D and Kate Robinson, published by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2022 by the Estate of Sir Kenneth Robinson and Kate Robinson.

Quality education an ‘essential pillar’ of a better future, says UN chief

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Education is an “essential pillar” to achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN chief António Guterres told an audience on Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization, ahead of the agency’s General Conference .

We must ensure universal access to basic education for every child, everywhere. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President, UN General Assembly

Mr. Guterres, who noted that one-fifth of young people are out of work, lack education or adequate training, praised UNESCO ’s fundamental role in coordinating and monitoring global efforts, such as the agency’s initiative on the future of education.

The theme was taken up by Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the UN General Assembly, in his opening remarks to a ministerial meeting on education at the Conference.

Mr. Muhammad-Bande referred to estimates showing that some 265 million children are out of school. The number is projected to fall to 220 million over the next decade, but he declared that the illiteracy figures forecast for 2030 remain a scandal: “We must remove all barriers to education. We must ensure, at a minimum, universal access to basic education for every child, everywhere.”

He also highlighted the importance of educating children effectively, and equipping them with the necessary analytical and critical thinking abilities, in “an ever-changing and more complex world”.

Recalling his former experience as an educator in his home country of Nigeria, Mr. Muhammad-Bande called for more efforts to ensure that teachers are adequately qualified, because “no educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers”.

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

Other important measures cited by the General Assembly President include strong curricula that fully integrate Information and Communications Technology (ICT); ensuring that girls complete at least 12 years of education (which, according to the World Bank, would add some $30 trillion to the global economy); and the effective monitoring and evaluation of learning.

Mr. Muhammad-Bande called on nations to meet their commitments to education spending, and for donor countries to increase international aid directed towards education.

‘Powerful agents of change’

As well as the difficulties in accessing quality education, Mr. Guterres also outlined several other challenges faced by young people: the fact that millions of girls become mothers while they are still children; that one quarter are affected by violence or conflict; and that online bullying and harassment are adding to high levels of stress, which see some 67,000 adolescents die from suicide or self-harm every year.

World leaders, and others who wield power, he continued, must treat young people not as subjects to be protected, but as powerful agents for change, and the role of the powerful is not to solve the enormous challenges faced by young people, but rather to give them the tools to tackle their problems.

Mr Guterres underscored the importance of bringing young people to the table as key partners, and praised UNESCO’s efforts to include their voices, which include holding a major event at the General Conference, and the Youth Forum .

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Poverty Impedes Children’s Education Long Before They Enter The Classroom — Here’s How We Can Change That

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Written by Jordan Langs, Program and Development Associate, Moms Helping Moms Foundation

Within the United States, education is commonly regarded as an equalizer to opportunity and upward mobility. In reality, there are countless impediments in the system that exclude low-income children from reaping the full benefits of education long before they enter the classroom.

Education starts well before a child enters the classroom.

Education starts well before a child enters the classroom. Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child noted that “brains are built over time, from the bottom up,” beginning before birth and continuing into adulthood. While development may continue into adulthood, the brain develops more during the first five years of a child’s life than at any other point, with more than 1 million new neural connections being made every second. In fact, 90% of the brain is developed by the time a child is five or six years of age. Growing research on early childhood development has confirmed the importance of supporting brain development during the early years. Thanks to studies conducted by organizations like The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, we now know there is a direct connection between early childhood development and social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development outcomes, linking healthy development to school readiness and success in life . As noted by Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child , “Healthy development in the early years provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation.”

The ratio of age-appropriate books per child in low-income neighborhoods is 1 book per 300 children, compared to middle-income neighborhoods where the ratio is 13 books per child. 

With critical learning and development occurring well before children enter a classroom, the responsibility to support early childhood development falls on parents and caregivers. This puts low-income students at a significant disadvantage, resulting in a substantial school readiness gap that has negative lifelong implications. Children from low-income households often lack access to books, sing-along toys, interactive games, and other early learning materials that support a child’s healthy development. To put it into perspective, the ratio of age-appropriate books per child in low-income neighborhoods is 1 book per 300 children, compared to middle-income neighborhoods where the ratio is 13 books per child.

When families lack access to these essential learning materials, children miss out on the many positive benefits of early literacy learning. When you read to your child, you teach them how to acquire, organize, and use knowledge . You foster their cognitive development by engaging them in thinking, exploring, and problem-solving. You enhance their language and literacy skills by introducing new words and stimulating their understanding and ability to use and comprehend those words. You expand their social, emotional, and behavioral skills by building their knowledge of the world through the narrative of a book, which develops listening skills, emotion management, and problem-solving skills. In sum, early literacy is an integral piece of a child’s brain development.

Other impediments, like the inexistence of universal child care , also stand in the way of low-income children’s healthy development and access to education. With the cost of child care programs averaging $14,117 annually per child , a rampant 41% increase compared to pre-pandemic prices, this service is unattainable for most low-income families, meaning that parents and caregivers must take on the role of an early educator in addition to the many roles they already assume as a parent. So, now not only do families need to have access to literacy materials to teach the child, but it means they also need to be able to devote time. Unfortunately, time is another unattainable factor for many low-income families, as parents and caregivers work extensive hours and multiple jobs to make ends meet. With less time to spend with their children, children consequently miss out on the high-quality, development-stimulating experiences their more affluent counterparts receive by attending child care. Stress can also be attributed to the various hurdles standing between low-income children and healthy development. While stress takes many forms, low-income families are, once again, disproportionately affected. New research has linked poverty to stress, uncovering the toxic consequences on early childhood development , including damage to the brain’s executive function and the regulation of emotion and attention.

“How do you become literate when there are no available resources?”  Susan Neuman, New York University

The lack of access to learning materials extends beyond the household. There is a severe shortage of print materials available to the public in many low-income communities. Many do not have public libraries, and those that do are met with limited items and hours of operation. According to the U.S. Department of Education, a staggering 2.5 million children across the country are enrolled in districts where there are no libraries. However, the lack of print materials does not just refer to the free resources available at a public library; it also includes items available for purchase. This harsh reality for low-income communities is known as book deserts . Research shows that living in a book desert can impose severe constraints on school readiness. New York University childhood and literacy education researcher, Susan Neuman , encapsulates the harsh consequences of book deserts by proclaiming, “How do you become literate when there are no available resources?”

As we can see, poverty is a cement barrier standing between low-income families and their ability to stimulate healthy early childhood development so their children can reap the full benefits of education. Since raising a child costs roughly $14,846 per year , while the annual salary of a full-time minimum-wage worker receiving the federal minimum wage ( $7.25 ) is only $15,080, it’s nearly impossible for low-income families to stretch their budgets even further to include books, let alone child care. When compared to food, rent, utilities, and clothing, books become a luxury item forced to take a backseat. With 61% of low-income families not having any children’s books in their homes and only 48% of low-income children entering school prepared, the extent that poverty negatively impacts school readiness is clear. Unfortunately, when a child starts school behind, they are more likely to stay behind .

While this form of poverty is seemingly challenging to address, growing research in recent years has found effective interventions. A study on poverty’s impact on children’s cognitive, emotional, and brain development , in particular, has opened doors for potential policies that would support children in their early years. The New York Times reported that the study provided low-income mothers with monthly cash stipends of $333 for the first year of their child’s life. The findings were remarkable, revealing increased brain activity in babies, highlighting the sensitivity of children’s brains to their environment while offering direct evidence that poverty itself can hold children back from day one.

In addition to research, there are many things that we as a community can do at the local, state, and federal levels. Here are some ways that you can make a significant difference in a child’s life that will follow them for years:

1. Donate Books

Donating new and gently used books helps get books in the hands of those who need them most. Many human services organizations and nonprofits alike have created literacy programs to better support low-income families. Even organizations that you wouldn’t think accept books oftentimes do – food and diaper banks included. Other great places to donate new and used books are Head Start Programs, local libraries, and Community Family Resource Centers.

Donating new and gently used books and supplies helps get them into the hands of those who need them most.

Many organizations have expanded their services in recent years to help get books into low-income communities. Moms Helping Moms Foundation (MHM), founded in 2011 as a diaper bank, quickly expanded its operation to provide books and literacy materials when Founder and Co-Executive Director, Bridget Cutler, realized the potential MHM had to help families beyond diapers. Through its Early Literacy Program , MHM distributes literature in both English and Spanish to parents and caregivers throughout New Jersey. Items under this category include books, which MHM ensures each child served receives at least one with every wish list fulfillment, and early literacy learning materials that discuss the importance of early reading, talking, and singing with children. Since 2017, MHM has donated nearly 25,000 books along with literacy handouts to New Jersey residents in need. They rely on donations of books and literacy kits to provide these essential items. You can donate new and gently used children’s books by bringing or mailing items directly to their warehouse in Warren, New Jersey, or by purchasing them from their Amazon Wish List .

2. Get Crafty: Make Literacy Kits!

Literacy kits are also a great way to support a child’s early development and can be a fun craft opportunity for volunteers. Love Letters for Literacy helps families in need by donating handmade literacy packets to make teaching the letters of the alphabet easy and fun! By partnering with nonprofits around the country, like Moms Helping Moms Foundation, literacy kits are reaching low-income children in underserved communities. Visit their website to learn more!

Print materials are another great way to get literacy kits into these communities. Moms Helping Moms Foundation and diaper banks across the country have partnered with the National Diaper Bank Network and Too Small To Fail to provide informational handouts that families can use to support their child’s early development. This initiative, called Diaper Time Is Talk Time, aims to spread awareness, promote the importance of early brain and language development, and empower parents and caregivers with the tools to talk, read, and sing with their little ones. Learn more about the program and check out their free handouts here !

3. Host a Book Drive

Book drives are a fun and educational way to collect these much-needed items while simultaneously raising awareness in the community. Best of all, anyone and any group can host a book drive – individuals, schools, service groups, student organizations, local businesses – you name it. At Moms Helping Moms Foundation, they offer both in-person and virtual drive opportunities, as do many other organizations these days. Learn more about hosting an in-person or virtual book drive by visiting their website !

4. Start A Free Library!

While free libraries have been around for quite some time, the COVID-19 pandemic drew new attention to them as many communities found their local libraries and book shops shut down. Starting a free library is a simple and easy way to bring the community together while increasing the availability of free literacy materials. The “library” itself can take many different forms. The most common approach is to perch a cabinet-style box at the curb of your house or building, but you can practically makeshift it however you’d like.

Starting a free library is a simple and easy way to bring the community together while increasing the availability of free literacy materials.

The Little Free Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Hudson, Wisconsin. Their vision is to have a Little Free Library in every community so every reader can have a book. With over 125,000 Little Free Libraries in 100+ countries, their global network is making an immense difference in communities across the globe. Get involved by starting your own, or supporting your local, free library! It’s simple, easy, and fun – and the Little Free Library has a step-by-step tool kit to help you get started.

5. Use Your Voice: Advocate and Raise Awareness

Growing research in recent years has opened doors for government intervention. Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced S.1398 The Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act to help promote school readiness for all young children by ensuring they have access to a supportive learning environment where they can stimulate healthy early childhood development. Use your voice to raise awareness of this bill by contacting U.S. Senators and asking for their support. The NCSL has an excellent letter template example that you can use to format your letter.

In addition to contacting government officials, you can use your voice in the community and on social media. TikTok user Araba Maze used TikTok to bring awareness of Baltimore's book deserts. Her journey started while reading to her nieces on their stoop in Baltimore, Maryland, when she noticed other little kids gathering around. She began hosting “Stoop Storytimes” every week and was eventually inspired to become a librarian. After realizing she still wasn’t reaching the children in her neighborhood, for there are many barriers to access, she entered the United Way’s Baltimore County Changemaker Challenge to help increase access with free book vending machines in everyday places like laundromats, convenience stores, and train stations. To help raise awareness, she posted a video on TikTok that quickly went viral, bringing in donations of books for the vending machines while inspiring viewers to get involved. After earning $20,000 in grant money and collecting donations through social media, Araba began partnering with local book banks to get the vending machines set up across the city and Baltimore County.

There are many other ways to get involved and make a difference! Check out the End Book Deserts resource guide, organized by state, to see what efforts are currently being made in your community.

This is a content marketing post from a Forbes EQ participant. Forbes brand contributors’ opinions are their own.

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Is college worth it? Poll finds only 36% of Americans have confidence in higher education

FILE - Students walk on the campus of Boston College, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Boston. Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FILE - Students walk down Jayhawk Boulevard, the main street through the main University of Kansas campus, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Lawrence, Kan. Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

FILE - Students cross the campus of Dartmouth College, March 5, 2024, in Hanover, N.H. Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

FILE - In this May 13, 2018, file photo, new graduates walk into the High Point Solutions Stadium before the start of the Rutgers University graduation ceremony in Piscataway Township, N.J. Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

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Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll.

Overall, only 36% of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, according to the report released Monday by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. That confidence level has declined steadily from 57% in 2015.

Some of the same opinions have been reflected in declining enrollment as colleges contend with the effects of the student debt crisis , concerns about the high cost of tuition and political debates over how they teach about race and other topics.

The dimming view of whether college is worth the time and money cuts across all demographics — including gender, age, political affiliation. Among Republicans, the number of respondents with high confidence in higher education has dropped 36 percentage points over the last decade — far more than it dropped for Democrats or independents.

“It’s so expensive, and I don’t think colleges are teaching people what they need to get a job,” says Randy Hill, 59, a registered Republican in Connecticut and a driver for a car service. His nephew plans to do a welding apprenticeship after graduating high school. “You graduate out of college, you’re up to eyeballs in debt, you can’t get a job, then you can’t pay it off. What’s the point?”

The June 2024 survey’s overall finding — that 36% of adults feel strong confidence in higher education — is unchanged from the year before. But what concerns researchers is shifting opinion on the bottom end, with fewer Americans saying they have “some” confidence and more reporting “very little” and “none.” This year’s findings show almost as many people have little or no confidence, 32%, as those with high confidence.

Experts say that fewer college graduates could worsen labor shortages in fields from health care to information technology. For those who forgo college, it often means lower lifetime earnings — 75% less compared with those who get bachelor’s degrees, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. And during an economic downturn, those without degrees are more likely to lose jobs.

“It is sad to see that confidence hasn’t grown at all,” says Courtney Brown, vice president at Lumina, an education nonprofit focused on increasing the numbers of students who seek education beyond high school. “What’s shocking to me is that the people who have low or no confidence is actually increasing.”

This year’s survey added new, detailed questions in an effort to understand why confidence is shrinking.

Almost one-third of respondents say college is “too expensive,” while 24% feel students are not being properly educated or taught what they need to succeed.

The survey did not specifically touch on the protests this year against the war in Gaza that divided many college campuses, but political views weighed heavily on the findings. Respondents voiced concerns about indoctrination, political bias and that colleges today are too liberal. Among the respondents who lack confidence, 41% cite political agendas as a reason.

Among other findings:

More than two-thirds, or 67%, of respondents say college is headed in the “wrong direction,” compared with just 31% who feel it’s going in the right direction.

Generally when people express confidence in higher education, they are thinking of four-year institutions, according to Gallup. But the survey found that more people have confidence in two-year institutions. Forty-nine percent of adults say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in two-year programs, compared with 33% of Americans who feel that way about four-year colleges.

California college student Kristen Freeman understands why.

“It’s about saving money. That’s why I went to a two-year. It’s more bang for your buck,” says Freeman, 22, a sociology major at Diablo Valley Community College with plans to transfer to San Jose State University for the final two years of college.

Freeman understands the concerns about indoctrination and whether college prepares students for life and work but also feels the only way to change structural problems is from the inside. “I am learning about the world around me and developing useful skills in critical thinking,” Freeman says. “I think higher education can give students the spark to want to change the system.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Our Best Education Articles of 2020

In February of 2020, we launched the new website Greater Good in Education , a collection of free, research-based and -informed strategies and practices for the social, emotional, and ethical development of students, for the well-being of the adults who work with them, and for cultivating positive school cultures. Little did we know how much more crucial these resources would become over the course of the year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, as we head back to school in 2021, things are looking a lot different than in past years. Our most popular education articles of 2020 can help you manage difficult emotions and other challenges at school in the pandemic, all while supporting the social-emotional well-being of your students.

In addition to these articles, you can also find tips, tools, and recommended readings in two resource guides we created in 2020: Supporting Learning and Well-Being During the Coronavirus Crisis and Resources to Support Anti-Racist Learning , which helps educators take action to undo the racism within themselves, encourage their colleagues to do the same, and teach and support their students in forming anti-racist identities.

Here are the 10 best education articles of 2020, based on a composite ranking of pageviews and editors’ picks.

Can the Lockdown Push Schools in a Positive Direction? , by Patrick Cook-Deegan: Here are five ways that COVID-19 could change education for the better.

How Teachers Can Navigate Difficult Emotions During School Closures , by Amy L. Eva: Here are some tools for staying calm and centered amid the coronavirus crisis.

Six Online Activities to Help Students Cope With COVID-19 , by Lea Waters: These well-being practices can help students feel connected and resilient during the pandemic.

Help Students Process COVID-19 Emotions With This Lesson Plan , by Maurice Elias: Music and the arts can help students transition back to school this year.

How to Teach Online So All Students Feel Like They Belong , by Becki Cohn-Vargas and Kathe Gogolewski: Educators can foster belonging and inclusion for all students, even online.

How Teachers Can Help Students With Special Needs Navigate Distance Learning , by Rebecca Branstetter: Kids with disabilities are often shortchanged by pandemic classroom conditions. Here are three tips for educators to boost their engagement and connection.

How to Reduce the Stress of Homeschooling on Everyone , by Rebecca Branstetter: A school psychologist offers advice to parents on how to support their child during school closures.

Three Ways to Help Your Kids Succeed at Distance Learning , by Christine Carter: How can parents support their children at the start of an uncertain school year?

How Schools Are Meeting Social-Emotional Needs During the Pandemic , by Frances Messano, Jason Atwood, and Stacey Childress: A new report looks at how schools have been grappling with the challenges imposed by COVID-19.

Six Ways to Help Your Students Make Sense of a Divisive Election , by Julie Halterman: The election is over, but many young people will need help understanding what just happened.

Train Your Brain to Be Kinder (video), by Jane Park: Boost your kindness by sending kind thoughts to someone you love—and to someone you don’t get along with—with a little guidance from these students.

From Othering to Belonging (podcast): We speak with john a. powell, director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, about racial justice, well-being, and widening our circles of human connection and concern.

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‘The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs’

By  Scott Jaschik

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Richard A. Detweiler first released some of the results of his study on the long-term impact of having attended a liberal arts college or experienced qualities associated with liberal arts education in 2016.

The results back up the claims that liberal arts advocates routinely make about these institutions. He first obtained a sample of 1,000 college graduates, some from lists of liberal arts college alumni and others from a random sample of the population of college graduates in the United States, a group in which liberal arts graduates are a minority. The sample was divided into groups of those who graduated 10 years, 20 years and 40 years ago. Those in the sample were then asked a series of questions about their undergraduate educational experiences and about their lives since college.

There were questions about the intimate learning environment associated with liberal arts colleges: Did most professors know your name? Did you talk with faculty members outside class about academic issues and also about non-class-related topics? Were most class sizes in your first year not more than 30?

There were questions about intellectual competencies related to the skills liberal arts colleges say they teach. But rather than saying, “Were you taught critical thinking?” the survey subjects were asked whether their professors encouraged them to examine the strengths and weaknesses of their views, and those of others, and whether they spent class time regularly talking about issues for which there was no single correct answer. To examine breadth of education, they were asked how many courses (or what share of courses) came from outside their major.

With regard to life experiences, the survey subjects were then asked questions designed to tease out whether these graduates possessed the qualities liberal arts colleges claim to provide. But again, the questions weren’t direct. So rather than say, “Are you a leader?” people were asked if they regularly had people seeking their advice outside their areas of expertise, whether they were frequently called on as mentors, whether they have been elected to positions in social, cultural, professional and political groups.

In looking at whether people in the larger sample had leadership characteristics, Detweiler found that—depending on how many characteristics of an intimate education they reported—adults with liberal arts backgrounds were 30 to 100 percent more likely to show leadership. The key factor appeared to be out-of-the-classroom discussions with faculty members (both on academic and nonacademic subjects).

The same faculty interaction made alumni 26 to 66 percent more likely to be people who contribute to society (volunteering, charitable giving, etc.).

Another quality the study examined was whether people were generally satisfied with their lives and viewed their professional and family lives as meaningful. This type of happiness was significantly more likely (25 percent to 35 percent), the study found, for those who reported that as undergraduates they had conversations with those who disagreed with them and had in-class discussions of different philosophical, literary and ethical perspectives.

Detweiler, then president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and now president emeritus, promised a book with the results and more ideas about the liberal arts. This week, the MIT Press published the result: The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs: Lives of Consequence, Inquiry and Accomplishment . Detweiler answered questions about the book.

Q: Why has the situation facing gotten worse in recent years?

A: While there are a number of reasons, I believe the most important is the ever-growing emphasis on the idea that the purpose of college is job preparation. While preparation for productive work is a good outcome, there has grown the idea that a graduate is prepared for employment only if they study specialized, professional or technical subjects. In contrast, the liberal arts is incorrectly believed to be simply the study of impractical subjects, and therefore not relevant to job success. While there is some advantage to specialized training for one’s first job, as my research documents, longer-term success and life fulfillment does not come from specialization but from broader study and involvement in an educational community, and these are among the essential characteristics of liberal arts education. This research finding should not be a surprise given the fact that, with the rapid changes in the contemporary world of work, today’s specialization is tomorrow’s obsolescence. But people seem to be focused on the short-term value of first job income rather than receiving an education with longer-term value. There is no career path to a meaningful life.

Q: Of your findings, what are one or two statistics that show the value of the liberal arts college?

A: One of the essential characteristics of the liberal arts is learning in an educational community. While people frequently assume that close out-of-class relationships among faculty and students is just a nicety, in fact it has been a consistent attribute of liberal arts education for millennia. The research findings demonstrate the impact of experiences ranging from involvement with campus activities to more extensive out-of-class interaction with faculty. These are both significantly related to a broad range of life outcomes ranging from leadership and fulfillment to personal success—a stunning endorsement of the importance of this aspect of the liberal arts educational experience. An anonymous reviewer of my book ridiculed the idea that having faculty know students’ first names was significant, even though this attribute was frequently associated with life impact; while not every professor can know every student, particularly at larger institutions, it is an indicator of the degree to which an authentic educational community of life impact exists.

Among many other findings, I think I would also point out the significance of taking more than half of one’s courses outside the major. This one stands out because of its association with long-term success, including higher income and position level in one’s work life. And this effect is especially strong for those who are often disadvantaged in higher education: people from lower-income families and with lower SAT/ACT test scores. And associated with this finding is that the value of professional or specialized degrees is short-term, and in fact these people are less likely to live fulfilled lives over the longer term.

Q: Why is it so hard to convince people of the value of the liberal arts college?

A: We, in higher education, own major responsibility for this fact. There is no consistent description of what liberal arts study is—in my research I cataloged hundreds of different definitions and descriptions. And to make matters worse, when individual colleges market themselves, they rarely make clear statements about what liberal arts experiences are particularly important and why. If anything, liberal arts colleges often emphasize experiences such as internships that students can experience at any college or university. Of course, the problem colleges have faced in this regard is there has not been objective information about the relationship between specific liberal arts experiences and life outcomes. This research has rectified that problem, and I believe wise colleges will now begin to document and communicate the specific liberal arts experiences that are related to significant life outcomes.

The second issue, also of our own making, is that research on the value of college has focused on money outcomes. That is, what is most commonly reported is that those who have graduated from college earn much more and are less likely to be unemployed. Since this is the result of graduating from any college, why would one choose to attend a liberal arts college, especially when other, typically larger, institutions also have a broader range of majors? In addition, with an emphasis on specialized and professional education—also with much greater availability at larger institutions—why would one choose a liberal arts institution? I am optimistic that the results of my research, which directly links six types of liberal arts educational experiences to life outcomes, will make it possible for liberal arts–oriented colleges and universities to begin documenting the specific reasons for the impact they have on the lives of graduates that go well beyond the financial outcomes associated with graduating from any college.

Q: In your study, you describe characteristics of liberal arts colleges, but don’t say these are liberal arts colleges’ qualities. Why?

A: For decades people have made a distinction between two types of colleges: liberal arts colleges and others (comprehensive, master’s or doctoral, etc.). Analyses, then, typically make contrasts between those types. But this is a very confounded comparison: if the liberal arts is simply defined as involving breadth of study, most American universities of all types require some distribution of courses among their graduates; if the liberal arts is simply defined as the study of the humanities, almost every American university offers courses in the humanities; if the liberal arts is defined simply as participation in campus organizations, every American university makes those available; if the purpose of a liberal arts education is to further democracy, every American university endorses that claim.

So instead of simply trying to classify institutions as liberal arts or not (or as the Carnegie classification does it, as “baccalaureate: arts and sciences” or not), I carried out a historical analysis to determine the educational practices characteristic of liberal arts education over centuries. From this I concluded there are six fundamental practices: three associated with the content of education and three with the nature of the educational experience. The question of the research, then, was whether there is any relationship between a student experiencing each of these practices (for example, taking more than half of one’s courses outside the major or spending time with faculty outside of class time) and life outcome. And what I learned is experiencing some of these practices had some kinds of life impact and experiencing others had a different type of life impact. So the liberal arts is not a singular thing but a set of things, and depending on one’s life goals, different kinds of liberal arts experiences are important.

So this research wasn’t about saying liberal arts colleges are good and others are not; rather, it concludes that having liberal arts experiences is good for a more meaningful and successful life. The truth is that, like my daughter who attended a research university, it is possible to have liberal arts experiences at a larger comprehensive institution. It is also possible to avoid impactful liberal arts experiences at a college that describes itself as liberal arts. But the reality is that having liberal arts experiences at comprehensive research institutions is a real challenge—the student will need to make extraordinary efforts to have those experiences, and faculty are likely to be rewarded for their focus on research rather than for spending time with students. Indeed, as my research found, the impactful educational experiences were about twice as likely to be experienced by students at liberal arts colleges. The evidence is clear: the education students receive at liberal arts colleges is distinctly and significantly associated with positive life impact.

Q: What should liberal arts colleges do to gather more students and more support?

A: I am reminded of the years-ago (and still true) lament that there were too few women pursuing engineering degrees. It began with the simple insight that, in general, women reported caring more about how their education can be used to make a difference in the world than with tinkering with neat stuff. Engineering programs that reframed their appeals to describe how engineers make a difference for the world experienced a growth in their enrollments of women. Of course, this was only a first step, and much more has been done since that time, but it was a critical beginning.

For liberal arts education, I believe it is critical to completely reframe our thinking about liberal arts advocacy with a focus on actionable steps that can be taken. Because every college now describes liberal arts education differently, we have forfeited the meaning of liberal education to our critics, who are free to choose their own way of negatively stereotyping what liberal arts education is. (Can you imagine if every engineering school defined engineering differently?) We need to adopt an essentially consistent description of the liberal arts—one based on the common good (specific ways in which the liberal arts benefits both the individual and society) and which includes a clear description of the important educational experiences that will have life impact. The research provides clear descriptions of these fundamental attributes of liberal arts education.

Second, take advantage of the objective findings reported in the book, which documents the relationship between specific liberal arts educational experiences and specific life outcomes across 1,000 college graduates of a wide variety of types of institutions. Each liberal arts institution can begin collecting data on the degree to which their students actually experience each of the various liberal arts practices and how those are related to life outcomes. This college-specific information should be disseminated by colleges in their communications.

Third, each liberal arts institution needs to examine its own policies and resource allocations to determine whether their mission is aligned with the life outcomes that the various liberal arts practices create. Do faculty rewards—promotion, tenure, periodic reviews—sufficiently reward the time professors spend outside of class with students? Do growing requirements within majors push out the ability of students to study outside their discipline? Do faculty and staff operate on the basis that all are involved in the creation and support of a full educational ecology, or do departmental prerogatives supersede a more integrated view of the students’ educational experience? And more.

Most fundamentally, I see the work presented in this book as a call to action. If we are to preserve and fortify the liberal arts principles that account for the remarkable impact of American higher education for more than two centuries—considered by most internationally to be the best in the world—we must use the information we now have to clarify and strengthen this powerful approach to higher education.

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• Education /

Article on the Importance of Education in 100 to 350 Words

• Updated on  
• Jan 9, 2024

Education entails acquiring knowledge to have a greater understanding of the various disciplines that will be used in our everyday lives. ‘ Education ’ refers to the information we gain and experience outside of books or classrooms, as well as the knowledge that we receive and experience in schools, our homes, and as members of society. Our ideas on life alter as a result of learning, education is crucial for personal development and growth in society . In this blog, we will see why we need education for growth and will also look at some articles on the importance of education.

This Blog Includes:

Importance of education, mental aspect of education’s importance, the power of being an educated individual, how can your education benefit your society, articles on importance of education, article on importance of education: 100 words, article on importance of education: 200 words, article on importance of education: 350 words, article on importance of women’s education.

Also Read: Essay On Education System

Also Read: Importance of Education in Development

The value of education at a much younger age. Our first tryst with learning begins at home, and our first teachers are our parents, grandparents, and often siblings. The importance of education lies in its continuity, learning is a lifetime process that will stop with our death. It is the foundation for the development of a healthy individual and society. Our world cannot have a bright future if our culture lacks education.

Education is the key to change. It is an important tool that allows a person to understand his or her rights and responsibilities to his or her family, society, and nation. It improves a person’s ability to view the world and to fight against misdoings such as injustice, corruption, and violence, among other things.

Education is meant to hone talent, sharpen our mindsets and educate us on a myriad of things. In school, we cover a variety of topics such as history, arithmetic, geography, politics, and so on. These subjects sharpen children’s minds and allow the kid to absorb knowledge from all subjects, and his or her mental level is increased. Here are some cognitive benefits of learning and education that ensure growth and development in children:

Education’s importance in our lives provides us with stability in our everyday lives. Everything may be split, but not your education, you must be told. You can improve your chances of getting a better job with the aid of your degree and expertise.

Financial Security

Our financial stability is helped by education. Higher-qualified individuals receive higher-paying employment in this era, allowing them to guarantee their future.

Self-dependency

Education teaches us to be self-sufficient in our daily lives. A person’s education is his alone, and with it, he may feel safe and self-sufficient.

Equality is a right that everyone deserves. If everyone had the opportunity to pursue higher education, there would be a greater likelihood that everyone would earn a large sum of money, and there would be fewer disparities across social classes. It aids in the pursuit of equality.

Confidence is one of the finest aspects of success. Education boosts a person’s self-assurance. You can go further into a topic that you are already familiar with. With the information you’ve obtained through your schooling, you can converse about that issue far better than others.

If you are a Class 12 student, here are some important blogs for you:

Knowledge and education is power. Education enables individuals. Enables them to innovate, understand, adapt, and overcome. Everything we learn helps us in life in one way or the other. It helps make our life convenient and easy. Good education is basically the knowledge that gives people perspective and information about things which can range from being as simple as fixing a water pipe to building a rocket destined for moon. When we are educated, we can adapt to each and every aspect of life better and it also helps us overcome many hurdle of life and gives perspective about a lot things such as finance, planning, etc. All this can make any individual feel powerful because there remains nothing in life that they cannot tackle.

Every nation’s integral part is it’s society and the growth an development of the same is dependent upon the individuals which in turn helps the social and economic progress of the nation. The education system has been evolving from the very first day and now it has several mods and means of the same. It is quite correct to say that any amount or money spent of being educated never goes waste. The more you learn, the you will be able to grow in life. Every aspect of education will one way or the other, help you in your life. And when an individual is educated, he/she can significantly contribute to the growth of the society and the nation, much more than a rich person. Education helps develop characters, personalities and social behaviours. It helps shape the way people think and act. An ultimately it lead to how a society will grow. For this to happen, it is essential that all of the people understand the importance of education.

The process of learning and increasing abilities through courses, literature, training and other mediums is known as education. It assists us in developing our talents and seeking employment to suit our requirements and obligations.

Education is vital to one’s success in life. It is essential for an individual’s entire growth. The process of learning and improving one’s skills is referred to as education. Wisdom and the ability to handle challenges come with knowledge. Education enhances one’s quality of life while also granting social recognition. Though education is essential for everyone, the need for it is most acute during childhood. Starting with children under the age of 10, school education is critical. It serves as a solid basis for their life skills and goals. A person who lacks education is powerless and vulnerable. H/She will find it difficult to deal with life’s challenges.

Related Reads:

Education is a valuable tool for gaining learning and wisdom. Though books are essential to education, the notion encompasses more than just books and bookish knowledge. It isn’t required for education to be only based on books. 

The most important goal of education is to help people with how to read and write. The first step toward literacy is reading and writing. Education provides a person with endless opportunities for growth and advancement. People who have had an education tend to be more calm and self-assured. People who have been educated are disciplined and understand the importance of time. Education allows a person to be more expressive and opinionated. H/She was able to readily communicate his/her viewpoints, which were supported by a clear aim and rationale.

Education benefits not just the individual but also the community. The most important aspect of education is that it goes from one individual to another, then throughout society, and eventually throughout the country. An educated individual makes an effort to teach and inspire everyone with whom he or she comes into contact. Education brings one up to speed on technological advancements as well. A well-educated person can easily adjust to technological developments. Education, more than anything else, is a source of hope. The desire for a better life; the desire for a wealthy and poverty-free existence.

Must Read: Importance of School Education

Human education is a critical instrument in their lives. It is a significant distinction between a civilized and an undisciplined individual. Even if the country’s literacy rate has increased in recent years, more individuals need to be made aware of the importance of education. Every child, whether a male or a girl, must attend school and not drop out. Education is beneficial not just to the individual but also to society. A well-educated individual is a valuable asset to society, contributing to its social and economic development. Such a person is always willing to assist society and the country. It is true to say that education is a stairway to a person’s and a nation’s achievement.

Education makes a person productive, allowing him or her to contribute to society in a positive way. It teaches us how to face many challenges and conquer them. A well-educated individual understands how to act in a polite and non-offensive manner. It shows us how to live a disciplined life while yet making a respectable living. Our future is built on the basis of education. Education is also the sole weapon that may be used to combat numerous issues such as illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, and so on. A person’s education makes them more sensitive to the predicament of their fellow beings. A well-educated individual not only comprehends the issues but also possesses the essential abilities to address them.

An educated individual possesses competent skills and is more capable than someone who is uneducated. However, it is incorrect to think that education alone ensures success. Indeed, success necessitates a solid education, as well as devotion, attention, and hard effort. An educated individual is more sensible and capable of rational thought.

Education allows a person to become self-sufficient. An educated individual does not rely on others and is capable of meeting his or her own requirements. A well-educated person also educates their family, and education benefits, not just the individual but also society and the nation. Education has a significant influence on our outlook, making us more optimistic about life and its objectives.

Also Read: Importance of Education in Child’s Life

There was a period when it was considered that women didn’t need to be educated. We’ve now realized the importance of women’s education . The modern era is the phase of women’s awakening. In every aspect of life, women are striving to compete with males. Many individuals reject female education, claiming that women’s rightful domain is the home, and therefore that money spent on female education is squandered. This viewpoint is incorrect since female education has the potential to bring about a silent revolution in society.

Female education has numerous advantages; educated women may contribute significantly to the country’s growth by sharing the burdens of males in several fields. They may contribute to society as teachers, lawyers, physicians, and administrators, as well as play a key part in wartime. In this time of economic distress, education is a blessing for women. The days of wealth and prosperity are long gone. Middle-class families are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet these days. Female education is important for a country’s growth, thus it should be supported.

Everyone has hope for a better life if they have an education. It’s a type of magic that works in a person’s life to make it far better than it would be if he didn’t have knowledge. To sum up the blog, we believe that everyone should be educated so that they can contribute to making our country proud. Increasing literacy rates can prevent tens of thousands of crimes. Every country should encourage its citizens to receive an education.

Also Read: Importance of Education for Growth and Betterment

Related Articles

Education is a valuable tool for gaining learning and wisdom. Though books are essential to education, the notion encompasses more than just books and bookish knowledge. It isn’t required for education to be only based on books.  The most important goal of education is to help people with how to read and write. The first step toward literacy is reading and writing. Education provides a person with endless opportunities for growth and advancement.

Education teaches us the importance of teamwork, communication, and interpersonal relationships. Education plays an important role in building intellectual and mental development. Education enhances creativity and allows us to express ourselves through various mediums and discover our unique talents. Education serves as a powerful tool for breaking the cycle of poverty

Moral education teaches us important values such as Respect, honesty, compassion, hard work, kindness, gratitude, sharing, cooperation, etc.

This was all about articles on the importance of education! We hope the information provided was helpful! For more information on such informative topics for your school, visit our school education page and follow Leverage Edu .

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Watch CBS News

Project 2025 would overhaul the U.S. tax system. Here's how it could impact you.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: July 12, 2024 / 1:42 PM EDT / CBS News

Project 2025, a 900-page blueprint for the next Republican president, is gaining attention for its proposals to overhaul the federal government. Among those changes: a major restructuring of the U.S. tax code. 

President Biden and Democrats have been citing Project 2025 in recent weeks as they seek to highlight what could be in store if former President Donald Trump wins at the polls in November and retakes the White House in January.  Many of the blueprint's proposals touch on economic matters that could impact millions of Americans, as well as social issues such as abortion and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, topics. 

Project 2025 , overseen by the conservative Heritage Foundation, is spearheaded by two ex-Trump administration officials: project director Paul Dans, who was chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, and Spencer Chretien, former special assistant to Trump who is now the project's associate director.

Trump: "I know nothing about Project 2025"

For his part, Trump has distanced himself from the blueprint, writing on Truth Social early Thursday that he isn't familiar with the plan. His campaign has proposed its own goals through " Agenda 47 ," which tends to focus on social and political issues such as homelessness and immigration rather than taxes.

"I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it," Trump wrote  Thursday.

His pushback comes after Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts opined in a podcast interview that the U.S. is "in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be." 

According to Project 2025's website, its goal is to have "a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration."

A shift to two brackets

The tax proposals of Project 2025, if enacted, would likely affect every adult in the U.S. by tossing out the nation's long-standing system of multiple tax brackets, which is designed to help lower-income Americans pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes compared with middle- or high-income workers. 

Currently, there are seven tax brackets — 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37% — with each based on income thresholds. For instance, a married couple pays 10% in federal income tax on their first $23,200 of income, and then 12% on earnings from $23,201 to $94,300, and so on. Married couples need to earn over $487,450 this year to hit the top tax rate of 37%.

Project 2025 argues that the current tax system is too complicated and expensive for taxpayers to navigate. To remedy those problems, it proposes just two tax rates: a 15% flat tax for people earning up to about $168,000, and a 30% income tax for people earning above that, according to the document . It also proposes eliminating "most deductions, credits and exclusions," although the blueprint doesn't specify which ones would go and which would stay.

"The federal income tax system is progressive, and people who make more money pay a higher marginal tax rate than people who make less money," Brendan Duke, senior director for economic policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, told CBS MoneyWatch. "Conservatives look at that, and they feel that that's unfair to the wealthy to ask them to pay a greater share of their income in taxes than lower income families."

The Project 2025 proposal "is a dramatic reform of how we fund our government, where we ask the wealthy to pitch in more than lower income families," he said. "This shifts taxes from the wealthy to the middle class, full stop."

Project 2025 didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

In a statement, the Heritage Foundation said it will ultimately be up to the next conservative president do decide which recommendations to implement, adding "As we've been saying for more than two years now, Project 2025 does not speak for any candidate or campaign." 

Project 2025's tax rates 

Millions of low- and middle-class households would likely face significantly higher taxes under the Project 2025's proposals.

He estimated that a middle-class family with two children and an annual income of $100,000 would pay $2,600 in additional federal income tax if they faced a 15% flat tax on their income due to the loss of the 10% and 12% tax brackets. If the Child Tax Credit were also eliminated, they would pay an additional $6,600 compared with today's tax system, Duke said. 

By comparison, a married couple with two children and earnings of $5 million a year would enjoy a $325,000 tax cut, he estimated. 

"That 15% bracket is a very big deal in terms of raising taxes on middle-class families," Duke said. 

Millions of U.S. households earning less than $168,000 would likely face higher taxes with a 15% rate. Currently, the bottom half of American taxpayers, who earn less than $46,000 a year, pay an effective tax rate of 3.3%  — which reflects their income taxes after deductions, tax credits and other benefits. 

Among other tax and economic changes proposed by Project 2025: 

• Cutting the corporate tax rate to 18% from its current 21%, which was enacted in 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Prior to the TCJA, the corporate tax rate stood at 35%.
• Reducing the capital gains tax to 15%. Currently, high-income earners pay a tax of 20% on their capital gains.
• Eliminating credits for green energy projects created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
• Considering the introduction of a U.S. consumption tax, such as a national sales tax. 
• Eliminating the Federal Reserve's mandate to maintain full employment in the labor market.

To be sure, overhauling the tax system would require lawmakers to approve changes to the tax code, which could be difficult if either the House or Senate is controlled by the opposing party. For instance, Trump was able to get his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by a Republican-led Congress, even though no Democrats voted in support of the measure. 

What does Trump say about taxes?

Trump hasn't yet proposed any concrete tax plans, but analysts expect that he would seek to extend the tax cuts enacted through the TCJA if he is reelected. Currently, many of the provisions of the TCJA, including lower tax brackets, are set to expire at the end of 2025. 

One likely scenario if Trump is reelected is that Republican lawmakers would extend the TJCA's tax cuts, while seeking to fund the reduction in tax revenue by repealing some of the clean energy and climate-related provisions in the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, according to an April report from Oxford Economics. Lawmakers could also seek to cut spending on social benefits to offset the tax cuts, the research firm added.

Trump has suggested a proposal to create a 10% tariff for all imports and a 60% tariff for Chinese imports that could raise enough money to eliminate the federal income tax. 

Tax experts also say the math doesn't work out because money raised from new tariffs would fall far short of replacing the more than $2 trillion in individual income taxes collected by the IRS each year. Consumers are also likely to pay more in higher costs for imported consumer goods and services with tariffs tacked onto them, experts note.

"A tariff is a consumption tax, and there is a throughline between [Project 2025's] tax reform and what Trump has talked about, getting rid of taxes in favor of a consumption tax," Duke noted. 

• Donald Trump

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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As the Republican National Convention (RNC) continues into its third day, speakers and party members have rallied around a firm support of Trump, despite a tumultuous few years that resulted in 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records, among other controversies.

At the RNC , political speakers outlined issues the Republican party considers to be some of the biggest facing Americans, including crime, immigration and identity politics. While some also proposed solutions that would be ushered in under a conservative president, voters don't have to guess Trump's plans; instead, they can simply head over to his website.

Starting in 2022, Trump's official campaign began uploading a series of policy plans to its website, detailing how the Republican candidate plans to tackle some of the country's most pressing issues. Called Agenda47 , the campaign materials paint a big picture of what Americans may expect under another Trump presidency.

Here's what to know about Agenda47.

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What is Agenda47 and how is it different from Project 2025?

Agenda47 is the Trump administration's official policy platform for the 2024 presidential election. Outlined in a series of videos and statements on the Trump website, the proposals were released during primary election season.

Many of the actions proposed would be achieved through executive order and touch on topics ranging from climate change and education to the economy and immigration.

The policies are separate from Project 2025, an ultra-conservative initiative created by far-right think tank the Heritage Foundation . Project 2025 is something of a playbook for the next conservative president and details a reimagining of the executive branch and plans to overhaul federal government agencies in a conservative image.

It was created by a team that includes several members of Trump's former staff, but Trump has since attempted to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation after President Joe Biden publicly criticized his ties to the project.

Agenda47, on the other hand, is the official outline for Trump's campaign.

What Agenda47 says about education

Trump's proposals for education reform focus on defunding and punishing educators and institutions that do not teach conservative values and creating new organizations to enforce rules created around Republican talking points to "save" schools from "Radical Left maniacs."

These plans include:

• Cutting federal funding for any school or programs teaching "Critical Race Theory," "gender ideology" or other lessons deemed "inappropriate."
• Keeping "men out of women's sports."
• Abolishing teacher tenure.
• Pushing prayer in public schools.
• Seeking out and undoing "Marxism" in education.
• Certifying only teachers “who embrace patriotic values" through a new credential program.
• Undoing DEI policies.
• Encouraging home and religious schooling.
• Creating a "Parental Bill of Rights" to give parents control over curriculum.
• Allowing parents to elect school officials and favoring school districts that enable teachers to carry firearms.

On the college level, Agenda47 wants to punish universities like Harvard for "turning students into Communists and terrorists" and plans to do away with the existing accreditation system, replacing it with one that adheres to GOP values and heavily fines those that don't comply. With money made from the fines, Agenda47 proposes the creation of a free online “American Academy" with "no wokeness or jihadism."

Immigration

Anti-immigrant rhetoric is a prominent feature of Trump's 2024 campaign, a fact reflected in Agenda47. In the discussion of policy around immigration, Trump's preamble relies on the message that immigrants are "criminals" and "birth tourists" taking over America.

According to the plan, Trump will sign an executive order on "day one" to end automatic citizenship for children of "illegal aliens."

The agenda also envisions a slew of proposed executive and presidential orders that will:

• Determine the "correct" interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
• Completely prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving any form of government benefit.
• Impose a travel ban on certain countries.
• Close the border to asylum seekers.
• Stop refugee admissions.
• Suspend visa programs including family visas, the visa lottery and "non-essential" work visas.
• Stop federal funding to sanctuary cities.
• Create a vetting center for "extreme vetting of foreign nationals,"

Agenda47 says it wants to restore "law and order" to address what Trump claims is "out of control crime ."

The plan proposes an investment in hiring, retention, and training for police officers and increasing their liability protections as well as supporting policing policies like stop-and-frisk and local police working with ICE on deportation.

Agenda47 also wants to:

• Overhaul federal standards on disciplining minors
• Have the DOJ "dismantle every gang, street crew, and drug network in America.” 
• Deploy federal troops for "law and order."
• Establish a DOJ task force for “protecting the right to self-defense.”
• Facilitate the hiring of 100 U.S. attorneys to investigate what Trump believes to be "left-leaning" district attorney and "anti-conservative bias" in law schools and firms.

Agenda47 places a focus on pharmaceuticals and medical devices manufactured within the U.S.

Under the plan, essential medical devices and medicines would be manufactured in the U.S. and federal agencies would be required to “Buy American" to prevent shortages.

It also calls for an increase in the production of drugs domestically, bans agencies from other countries from buying "essential drugs" and demands that pharmaceutical companies only be paid the “best price they offer to foreign nations.”

Agenda47 describes proposed economic policies under Trump as "pro-American" and blames Biden's "pro-China" administration for the poor state of the economy.

The agenda proposes cutting federal regulations on resources like energy, cutting taxes, raising tariffs on foreign producers while lowering taxes for domestic producers, imposing universal tariffs on most foreign products, "eliminating dependence on China" and banning federal contracts for any company that outsources to China.

Welfare, social security

Agenda47 says "Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security."

In the proposal, Trump blames threats to the programs on Biden's spending and says the Democrats are trying to undo Social Security, though Republicans have previously proposed a higher retirement age and funding cuts.

Trump's agenda proposes cutting tax dollars going to "corrupt foreign countries," "illegal aliens," "left-wing gender programs from our military" and "climate extremism" to save Social Security funding.

The proposal also bans undocumented immigrants from receiving any welfare monies and seeks to address homelessness , banning "public camping" and instead giving unhoused individuals the option to go to some form unspecified of "treatment" or being arrested.

It also proposes the creation of large tent cities to accommodate unhoused people with doctors and social workers on site.

LGBTQIA+ rights

Trump makes apparent throughout his policy plans an anti-LGTBQIA+ stance that specifically targets transgender individuals.

Proposed policies include

Removing any healthcare provider that offers gender-affirming care to youth from Medicare and Medicaid eligibility.

Pushing Congress to pass laws that say “the only genders recognized by the U.S. government are male and female—and they are assigned at birth."

• Defunding any school where a staff member discusses gender identity.
• Passing laws that ban what he calls "child sexual mutilation."
• Promoting education around the traditional nuclear family in schools.
• Supporting private lawsuits against doctors who provide gender-affirming care.
• Demanding any federal agencies "cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age."

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Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at [email protected].

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