Friedman and the Education Gaps

After reading Friedman’s “Dirty Little Secret” “The Education Gap at the Top” and “The Education Gap at the Bottom” I realized that American students are not pursuing careers that will put them at the top of society. When Friedman discusses the “bottom” of the education gap, he discusses why many Americans are stuck in careers or degree programs that will not allow them to advance in the global economy. Friedman says, “Americans have always wanted and expected their public schools to be the agent of social mobility, the principal means by which poor people can lift themselves up by their bookstraps and grasp the brass ring. But that is no longer the reality in too many parts of the country today, because of the disparities in funding”(346). This illustrates that our public schools are not encouraging American students to explore careers in math, science, and technology because many do not have the resources.

However, when Friedman discusses the people at the “top” of the education gap, he says “We simply are not educating, or even interesting enough for our own young people in advanced math, science, and engineering” (335). People at the “top” of the education gap are pursuing careers in math, science, and technology. For instance, Friedman uses the example of going out to dinner with his daughter, her roommates, and her roommate’s boyfriend, Eric Stern. Stern was getting his Ph.D in “biomedical engineering with an expertise in nanotechnology”(337) . Friedman goes further by showing the reader that Stern’s family was very involved in science and technology, which contributed to Stern’s career path. However, the most interesting part of this example is when Stern says, “I am looking around at a table eating pizza with all these smart women, and it never occurred to them to do science. They were all in humanities” (338).

As a preservice teacher, and after taking this class, I realized that without technology our students will not be marketable. If ELA teachers teach English in isolation from technology, we will be depriving our students of the education they deserve. According to the “Bottom Line”

“Young Chinese, Indians, and Poles are not racing us at the bottom. They are racing us at the top. They do not want to work for us; they don’t even want to be us. They want to dominate us—in the sense that they want to be creating the companies of the future” (351).

The world is flat. And as preservice ELA teachers, we must encourage our students to seek careers that will allow them to “dominate the companies of the future.” Teachers need to realize that symbolism and setting are not important. What is important are close reading skills, technology skill, and the ability to adapt to the world around them.