“Good. This is indeed what Mother Culture teaches. What would the schools do if they had more money?”
“If the schools had more money, they could get better teachers or pay teachers more, and I guess the theory is that the extra money would inspire teachers to do a better job.”
“And what about the lazy kids?”
“Some of the more money would be spent buying new gadgets and better books and prettier wallpaper, and the kids would not be as lazy as before. Something like that.”
“So let’s suppose that these new and improved schools turn out new and improved graduates. What happens then?”
“I don’t know. I guess they have an easier time getting jobs.”
“Why, Julie?”
“Because they’ve got better skills. They know how to do things employers want.”
“Excellent. So Johnny Smith isn’t going to have to go to work as a bagger in a grocery store, is he? He can apply for a job as an assistant manager.”
“That’s right.”
?
??And that’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’d think so.”
“But you know, Johnny Smith’s older brother graduated from school four years ago, before they were new and improved.”
“So?”
“He too went to work for the grocery store. But of course, having no skills, he had to start as a bagger.”
“Oh. Right.”
“And now, after four years, he too wants to apply for that job as an assistant manager.”
“Uh-oh,” I said.
“And then there’s Jennie Jones, another of your new and improved graduates. She doesn’t have to take a job as a lowly administrative assistant at the accounting firm. She can go right in as office manager. And that’s terrific, isn’t it?”
“It is so far.”
“But her mother went back into the workforce a few years ago, and having no skills, she had to start as a lowly administrative assistant at that accounting firm. Now she’s ready to be promoted to office manager.”
“Bad.”
“How do you think people are going to like your new and improved schools that prepare graduates for good jobs?”
“They’re not.”
“Now do you know why schools do a poor job of preparing graduates for the workplace?”
“I sure do. Grads have to start at the bottom of the ladder.”
“So you see that your schools are doing just what you actually want them to do. People imagine that they’d like to see their children enter the workplace with really useful business skills, but if they actually did so, they’d immediately begin competing for jobs with their older siblings and their parents, which would be catastrophic. And if graduates came out of school with advanced skills, who would bag the groceries, Julie? Who would do the sweeping up? Who would pump the gas? Who would do the filing? Who would flip the burgers?”
“I suppose it would turn into an age thing.”
“You mean you’d tell Johnny Smith and Jennie Jones that they can’t have the jobs they want, not because others are more qualified but because others are older.”