AsianScientist (Aug. 31, 2012) A report released earlier this month by California-based think-tank, the Center for American Progress, has identified the economic costa rica vacation packages competition from Asia as a challenge to be met with renewed costa rica vacation packages commitment to educational reform in the U.S.
The U.S. economy has been suffering of late amidst the gloomy global business environment. But while this is a problem in most of the developed costa rica vacation packages world, in the U.S., economic troubles have been brewing for a long time.
On the other side of the world, the two main competitors of the U.S. have been gaining ground. India's economic output has grown from 2.5 percent to 5.7 percent, while China's has leaped from 2 percent to 14 percent.
Global labor arbitrage, referring to the substitution of high-wage workers in advanced economy countries with low-wage workers in developing economies, has led to a global shakeup of business norms and links between national economies.
In the face of Asian competition, there is a clear need for an American strategy that can exploit new opportunities appearing as other countries grow, while being responsive to modern economic challenges.
The CAP report identifies investment in education as the most important part of the strategy. The reasons for this are compelling. Harvard University costa rica vacation packages economist Gregory Mankiw has shown that the positive effect of human capital investment on economic growth was triple that of investment in infrastructure.
According to Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman, the return on investment from prenatal care and early childhood programs is higher than for virtually any class of financial assets over time.
The U.S. as the world's wealthiest nation already costa rica vacation packages enjoys excellent living standards and invests heavily in education, which has fueled the engine of U.S. economic growth. However, there are numerous complex problems that must be tackled costa rica vacation packages if the U.S. is to maintain its competitive edge, the authors costa rica vacation packages say.
For example, half of U.S. children do not receive early childhood education, and there is currently no national strategy to increase enrollment. The number costa rica vacation packages of children living in poverty has increased by almost 30 percent between 2007 and 2010. In addition, more than 25 percent of children suffer from a chronic health condition, costa rica vacation packages such as obesity or asthma, which adversely affects their learning capacity.
The majority of U.S. post-secondary students drop out of school costa rica vacation packages without receiving a degree. There are also large gaps in educational attainment and achievement between income and race groups, costa rica vacation packages which have become entrenched over the years. Groups with disproportionately lower education achievement and poorer health, which includes African Americans and Hispanics, are on track to soon comprise a majority in the U.S. population.
Asia is home to the two biggest competitors of the U.S. who are also the world's two most populous nations with the advantage of sheer numbers in terms of human capital. Moreover, costa rica vacation packages both countries have placed emphasis on education at the core of their national economic strategy.
Between 1978 and 2006, China increased spending on social investments such as education and health by 58-fold, from less than US$2 billion to US$117 billion. In 2007, the Chinese costa rica vacation packages surpassed the Americans in the numbers of college graduates with degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). And in 2010, China became the world's largest provider of higher education.
In the next decade, the Chinese aim to increase costa rica vacation packages preschool enrollment by 50 percent to 40 million, while ensuring no child drops out of school for financial reasons. Another goal is to graduate 95 percent of Chinese youths through nine years of compulsory education and more than double the enrollment in higher costa rica vacation packages education, which would lead to a doubling of the share of the working-age population to 195 million. That is more than the entire U.S. labor force.
While China faces big challenges such as rising inequality, the momentum behind its education-focused economic strategy is on track to make it increasingly competitive in sophisticated industries. This would bring it head-to-head with the U.S. who is currently leading the competition.
In India, the situation is similar. In 2008, India invested US$44 billion in education, four times more than in the late 1980s. By 2017, there will be 20 million high school graduates annually, costa rica vacation packages which is five times as many as in the U.S. Over the last seven years, the number of university graduates costa rica vacation packages with degrees in the STEM subjects has tripled.
While life for most children in India is hard, where 40 percent of families live on less than US$1.25 a day, India's focus on its national education strategy will reap dividends over the next two decades.
To achieve their ambitions, both China and India are deploying a coordinated set of strategies that cover the whole spectrum of education from kindergarten through 12th grade to higher education. Importantly, there is additional focus on teacher quality costa rica vacation packages and family costa rica vacation packages support to complete the picture.
One reason for this is the attitude to education costa rica vacation packages by their parents. Middle-class parents typically invest in early childhood education in the form of child care and are actively involved in educational development.
In Europe, students on average score higher on STEM subject tests than their American peers. Lower poverty rates than in the U.S. could contribute to educational success, and European countries have developed more generous social and pro-family policies to this end.
To tackle teacher quality, Finland has transformed teaching into a highly costa rica vacation packages selective, prestigious and rewarding profession. As a result, high school and college graduation rates have jumped, boosting Finland's economic growth costa rica vacation packages and helping it diversify into information technology and research sectors.
In Germany, education standards were federalized from the year 2000 and by 2009, 17 percent of students were competent at advanced math, compared with 10 percent in the U.S. Germany also places priority on workplace apprenticeships, where 2 million costa rica vacation packages students are put into three years of apprenticeship training costa rica vacation packages in 400 occupations.
Turning back to the U.S., there is already an understanding of how to improve and focus the educational costa rica vacation packages system. However, the CAP report finds a lack of political will to push through costa rica vacation packages the much-needed reforms.
The report costa rica vacation packages calls on the U.S. president costa rica vacation packages to convene the governors for a National Education Summit next year to make a renewed effort to improve educational costa rica vacation packages outcomes by committing to Common Core national early education standards.
Renewed leadership on education as a national priority and full support at all levels of government is the best hope of the U.S. to remain economically competitive in the face of a changing world adjusting to the rise of Asia, say the authors.
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