Government Reform

With falling wages and rising inequality, persistent unemployment, failing schools, and broken cities, have America's best days come and gone? In America Needs Talent, Jamie Merisotis, a globally recognized leader in philanthropy, higher education, and public policy, explains why talent is needed to usher in a new era of innovation and success and why deliberate choices must be made by government, the private sector, education, and individuals to grow talent in America.

Al enmarcar históricamente los sistemas educacionales tanto en los países Latinoamericanos como en los Estados Unidos, aparecerán las reformas educativas implementadas en las décadas de los 80’s, 90 y al principio de los 2000’s como un hito que establecerá las maneras en que estaban instituidos y cómo funcionaban los sistemas escolares antes y después de dichas reformas.

Unsere Schulen stecken in einer Krise, aus der sie sich nur sehr langsam herausarbeiten. Lehrer, Eltern und Schüler sind frustriert, Arbeitgeber klagen, dass die Schulabgänger nicht die nötigen Kenntnisse für den Einstieg ins Berufsleben mitbringen. Die Krise hat viele Ursachen, eine davon ist die Situation der Lehrer. Vor riesigen Klassen können sie nicht auf die individuellen Stärken und Schwächen ihrer Schüler eingehen, Sparkonzepte, überfrachtete Lehrpläne und eine übermächtige Bürokratie ersticken jedes Engagement.

What explains the growing class divide between the well-educated and everybody else? Noted author Brink Lindsey, a senior scholar at the Kauffman Foundation, argues that it's because economic expansion is creating an increasingly complex world in which only a minority with the right knowledge and skills - the right "human capital" - reap the majority of the economic rewards. The complexity of today's economy is not only making these lucky elites richer - it is also making them smarter.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, required equal access to public places and employment, and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote. Today, the Black community faces an alarming education gap, a higher rate of unemployment/underemployment, and inequalities in the criminal justice system. A Black agenda or strategy is necessary to reverse these critical issues on a national level through public policy such as major reform in education, employment, and criminal justice.

In the aftermath of the 2010 election, George Megalogenis considers what has happened to politics in Australia. Have we entered a new phase with minority government and the rise of the Greens and independents? Hawke, Keating and Howard years were ones of bold reform; recently we have seen an era of power without purpose. But why? Is it down to powerful lobbies, or the media, or a failure of leadership, or all of the above?

There was a time in this country when people who were well-off had two homes, and the super-rich may have had three residences. In 2008 a prominent politician was asked how many homes he had. He didn’t know. The number was eight...and in the ensuing years the income gap has only widened. Billionaires now have so much money and power that the very fabric of our nation is coming unraveled. Tax policy is fundamental to a nation’s stability. We need to return to the system that brought us a large, dynamic, educated middle class.