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Monday, October 13, 2008
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Education drives developing economies |
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Written by Citizen Staff
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Sunday, 11 May 2008 |
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TODD WHITCOMBEBRUCE STRACHAN
Much of the news that we hear is discussed in that book. Issues such as job loss and outsourcing or supply chains and economic mobility run through the whole book. It is a reasonably good analysis of the changes occurring in the world economy with the rise of the Chinese and Indian middle class.
As fellow columnist Bruce Strachan mentioned here last week, the middle class in these two countries is the fastest-growing segment of their populations. Given that these are also the two most populated countries in the world -- with well over two billion people between them -- this means that there are a lot of people joining the middle class and wanting material goods.
How did these two countries get to be such economic engines? What is driving their growth?
I would suggest that the answer is not simply "outsourcing" nor even the disparity in wages with the developed world. I would suggest that the answer lies in education.
I have used a quote before from John Kenneth Galbraith which, paraphrased, says that education is the key to success. Galbraith was talking about development work in India. I would suggest that he had the right of it.
The Chinese government is building new universities and adding capacity to the system at a rate that belittles even our own government's attempt to expand the university system. There are some fundamental differences that I will get back to in a minute, though.
The Indian system created a number of technical institutes that are world class, top notched universities. Getting in to one is extraordinarily difficult. Staying in requires long hours of hard work.
Survival of the fittest ensures that each graduate has worked very hard to get the best education that they can because they will not get a second chance.
The consequence is that the Indian education system has been over-producing very good engineers and computer programmers. With the flattening of the world, they are now able to do the jobs that used to be reserved for the graduates of MIT and California Institute of Technology.
With fibre optic linkages and high-speed Internet, it no longer matters if your employees are down the hall or halfway around the world. Everyone is just a cellphone call away.
A well-developed education system with rigorous standards has ensured that India and China can not only compete on a global playing field but out compete anyone else on a level playing field.
Contrast this to our society's approach to education. It is chronically underfunded. It is treated as a "burden" on the taxpayers. Our children might enjoy school in the early years but they generally learn that school is, well, "boring" as my son puts it.
It is not seen as a place to excel nor the ticket to a better life. Indeed, there has been a huge disconnect between the quality of life that we enjoy and the educational advantages that we have. But the two are linked.
The sooner we realize this, the better. And the sooner we do something about it, the better. This means creating real opportunities for students to excel at all levels. It doesn't mean changing the names of a bunch of colleges to "university" in hopes that this will somehow fix our education deficiency.
We need to seriously consider our education system in light of a flattened earth. If everyone is going to be on the same level playing field, the question that needs to be asked and answered is: how do we excel at the game? If we don't, we run the risk of losing much in the way of our standard of living and our enjoyment of life.
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Last week, columnist Bruce Strachan made comment about the price of gasoline. In it his piece, he pointed out that governments have an "unsavoury interest in inflation" and implied that as the price of gas goes up, so does the amount that the government collects. That is a bit disingenuous as it is only the GST collected that increases with price.
The federal tax on gas is a flat rate -- $0.10 per litre right now. Let's not start blaming the "tax man" for the outrageous price of gasoline.
Consider the following: crude oil is selling for $123.80 per barrel or $0.779 per litre. With taxes, in Prince George, and refinery costs add on to that, according to the price gouge meter run by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, should result in a price of $1.302 per litre. More than what we pay at the pump.
But I have two questions. The first is how come our price is higher than Vancouver when they have an additional $0.06 per litre tax that we aren't paying? And second, why is gas selling at $123.80 per barrel when it costs only $48 to pull it out of the ground and ship it to the refineries? I guess that leads to a third question -- who is reaping the rewards?
Dr. Todd Whitcombe is a professor at UNBC and a politically active member of the community. His column appears Mondays. E-mail:
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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