WEBVTT 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:12.100 Today I want to talk about the importance 00:00:12.100 --> 00:00:15.150 of the basic education system, and the theme 00:00:15.150 --> 00:00:18.630 is going to be that it's a necessary, but not sufficient 00:00:18.630 --> 00:00:21.450 strategy, for education for the future. 00:00:21.450 --> 00:00:25.240 We're all familiar with the basic education model. 00:00:25.240 --> 00:00:28.730 We start in kindergarten and go through grade school 00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:29.870 through high school. 00:00:29.870 --> 00:00:32.560 Hopefully go on to a two- or a four-year college 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:34.240 and maybe even to graduate school. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.930 Then we enter the labor force and we start our working career 00:00:37.930 --> 00:00:40.570 after we complete our education. 00:00:40.570 --> 00:00:43.330 Well that model no longer works. 00:00:43.330 --> 00:00:46.230 Today, we have to think about lifelong learning 00:00:46.230 --> 00:00:49.250 because technologies are changing, 00:00:49.250 --> 00:00:52.440 the job market is changing in unpredictable ways, 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:54.220 and new ways of working are going 00:00:54.220 --> 00:00:55.890 to continue to come along. 00:00:55.890 --> 00:00:59.220 They're going to require us to refresh our skills. 00:00:59.220 --> 00:01:01.860 As this graph shows, the evidence is clear. 00:01:01.860 --> 00:01:04.440 High school dropouts are really doomed 00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:07.470 to a lifetime of poverty wages. 00:01:07.470 --> 00:01:11.220 On average they earn about $24,000 a year. 00:01:11.220 --> 00:01:15.850 High school graduates get to about $34,000 a year, 00:01:15.850 --> 00:01:19.210 and college graduates get to about $55,000 00:01:19.210 --> 00:01:20.880 a year average income. 00:01:20.880 --> 00:01:24.940 So the key lesson of this graph is, by all means, 00:01:24.940 --> 00:01:27.180 every one must finish high school 00:01:27.180 --> 00:01:29.750 and hopefully go beyond that. 00:01:29.750 --> 00:01:34.080 But you could say the same thing for high school graduation. 00:01:34.080 --> 00:01:36.030 College still pays off. 00:01:36.030 --> 00:01:39.640 This graph shows the difference in median earnings 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.120 of high school and college graduates, 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.690 and you'll see that it's been growing over time. 00:01:44.690 --> 00:01:47.310 That's both for men and for women. 00:01:47.310 --> 00:01:51.250 The gap between high school and the college degree earnings 00:01:51.250 --> 00:01:55.340 has grown, and so there's increasing returns to college 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:58.430 even given the increased cost of college. 00:01:58.430 --> 00:02:02.470 This graph shows that adjusting for the increased cost, 00:02:02.470 --> 00:02:06.400 that gap is still growing and the increase in returns 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:09.280 to college, particularly since around 1980, 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.900 have been growing by very, very large numbers. 00:02:12.900 --> 00:02:17.650 And so the message here is that, yes, college is expensive, 00:02:17.650 --> 00:02:21.980 but we've got to be careful not to underestimate its value. 00:02:21.980 --> 00:02:24.970 At the same time, it's important to recognize 00:02:24.970 --> 00:02:28.300 that there's wide variation in the earnings of college 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:29.040 graduates. 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:32.730 So it's very important to be careful to choose when, 00:02:32.730 --> 00:02:35.260 where, and what kind of organization, 00:02:35.260 --> 00:02:37.620 what kind of institution you choose 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:39.970 to get your education at. 00:02:39.970 --> 00:02:43.080 Ending your education and then entering the workforce 00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:45.030 was a model that worked in the past, 00:02:45.030 --> 00:02:47.140 but it's not going to work in the future. 00:02:47.140 --> 00:02:49.640 So let's look more carefully at how 00:02:49.640 --> 00:02:53.550 we're going to move through a model of lifelong learning 00:02:53.550 --> 00:02:55.350 in the future.