What Makes a Society Strong? Part 2-Employment

What occurs to me is that the old adage that idle hands are the devil's workshop is probably true.  Certainly there are numerous current examples of how that might be so.  There are also many examples of different effects of the devil's work.

Employment is the source of life for most people throughout the world.  Simply stated, it provides 2 significant factors with a positive influence on society.  First, the obvious one is money, which provides food, shelter and clothing, and hopefully a little more.  Second, having gainful employment provides a means to achieve a sense that each day has had some accomplishment.

The opposite is also true.  Here's where the devil comes to play.  When people are without the ability to obtain the basics for existence, they are forced to find a means for survival.  They also are unable to see a positive outcome each day.

What are the social consequences of employment?  Probably too many for a non-academic to list, but include the ability to meet personal obligations-paying bills which most people want to do, the ability to "provide" for a family, the increase in choices of how and where to live, the reduction in reliance on government.

In my opinion, most people are more interested in taking care of themselves and their loved ones than they are in taking handouts.  I'm sure there are plenty of studies of poverty and unemployment that bear this out.  Having a job which pays enough to be socially mobile imbues a sense of freedom, from want, from criticism, from government.  I certainly would prefer doing what I want on my time than being forced to make choices between worse and worst.

Not everyone will become rich by working, at least not rich by today's measures.  But most people aren't interested in being rich.  They want to be comfortable, have a few bucks to go out for dinner and a movie, to buy a car, or a house.  By and large, they want to be left alone to do what they want.
And most people are willing to do what they need to do to get there if they can.

If there is any doubt about what happens when there is a permanent poverty stricken populace decides it has had enough, even with no goal or specific vision of how life could be better, look at the youth of Egypt.  80% of Egypt is young and poor.  They can be influenced by opportunists with an agenda, telling them someone else is responsible for their condition.  Today, where once there was a great advanced culture, there is little advancement.  In spite of the century, they are still in the Dark Ages.  The devil keeps them there.

Full employment in America is still considered only having 5% unemployed.  What needs to be created in full employment, good wages and fulfilling work.  Don't be fooled by "fulfilling".  People find satisfaction in many ways, which is why so many people don't like their jobs.  They are fulfilled by the fruits of their labor-a paycheck.

To keep the devil out, we rely on ourselves first, and then if that fails, we hope that there are other helping hands to get us back on our feet.  That is why in my opinion we need a strong, focused government with leaders more intent on helping this country, which is made up of millions of people, not voting blocs, and less interested in themselves than in the people who put them there.

A strong society requires its members (the people's country club) to be active participants in its success.  To be successful and to remain strong, a society has to work collectively to make all of its members successful.  No one does it alone.  To be strong, we must be a community.

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What Makes a Society Strong? Part One-Education

What occurs to me is that we have forgotten what creates muscles.  Exercise is the answer. Constant exercise.  How then do we create intellectual muscle?  Exercise?  We call it education.  In a recent article, I don't remember who wrote it, I read that 80 million members of our workforce have a high school education, out of 130 million workers.  The bulk of new jobs that will be available will require exercise.  Our current workforce is undertrained for the current market.  There are today more than three million jobs nationwide which are available, but there are not enough people with the needed skills to fill the jobs.

There is a need at the corporate level to recognize that internal growth will require upgrading their own workforces.  With continuing education.  Not just rewarding people for taking classes, but coordinating the corporate need with educators.  And educators need to upgrade their own skills.  Here's a problem that is easily solved.  Kids today know more about computers than their teachers, and the schools don't teach the skills that the market will need.  This speaks to the state education departments who fail in properly designing curriculum.  Why do colleges have so many "english majors"?  Maybe the entire education infrastructure needs a new look.

Education is important in and of itself.  An educated populace is engaged in the activities of life-family, community, the world.  Education is also important when applied to employment.  America has moved beyond the basic manufacturing economy of the past.  Manufacturing no longer is the business of the past.  Today it is complex, and more often than not it is sophisticated.  Learning to function in that environment requires education capable of matching that sophistication.

How we reach that level is another conversation.  It is clear, however, if we remain at the current levels of science and technology in comparison to the rest of the world, America will become a fallen empire.  We will go the way of Rome, the British Empire.  Yet, we as a country have continually said we are not a second rate nation, we can do better.

To do better, we need a longer time horizon, and a plan to reach a lofty goal-returning to the top.  This is not about teachers' unions, or charter schools, or Federal laws or state programs.  What it is about is demanding of all the participants-students, teachers, parents, government-that excellence is not a hope, but an expectation.  And knowing and understanding why it is important needs to be a part of curriculum design, political discussion, social programs, and community involvement.  Otherwise, we doom our children to second class citizenship, and our country to a status which our foreparents would not have found acceptable.

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