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In August of 2008 in the business section of The Atlantic, Niraj Chokshi wrote an article entitled "Education Costs Rising Faster Than Health Care."

http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/08/a_little_more_than_a.php

One notable excerpt from the article is this:

"For 27 of the past 30 years, the price of education has grown at a faster rate than that of medical care. Education also grew faster than inflation for 29 of the past 30 years, while medical care beat inflation 27 of those years. Could education be our next health care crisis?"

Later in 2008, Barbara Pytel (suite101.com) wrote an article entitled "College May Cost Much More in 2009-2010 - College Costs Likely To Rise Because of Wall Street Greed."

http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/college_may_cost_much_more_in_20092010

The article makes this statement:

"Colleges take in donations from donors. These donations are placed in investment funds for the future and the profits become the source for scholarships and grant funds. Without this funding, the majority of college students from the lower and middle class could not afford college."

Now, the sad reality of the current situation is reflected in this Kiplinger report (December 2009) by Paul M. Krawzak (Contributing Writer) and Melissa S. Bristow, (Managing Editor of the Kiplinger Letters): "2010 Likely to See Major Debate On Education" with the by-line: "Obama has the backing of businesses as he seeks to make big changes:"

http://content.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/2010-likely-to-see-major-debate-on-education.html

This article begins with:

"When it comes to education, Americans may disagree on most of the details, but they do agree on one point: Today's system is in need of an overhaul. Despite huge hikes in federal, state and local spending on schools in recent decades, policymakers, education advocates and experts, parents, employers and educators concur: The nation's children need better preparation for 21st century life and careers."

But the article ends with:

"While U.S. schools could be a whole lot better -- and parents need to accept a lot more responsibility for how their children fare -- don't forget that test scores aren't the only measure of success and may not even be the ultimate or most important way of determining quality. Economic growth is also a way to measure how well prepared students are. On that score, the U.S. is doing well and will continue to do so long term, especially relative to other countries -- periodic downturns notwithstanding."

If economic growth is, in fact, a measuring stick for how well we are preparing our students, we may be in for a "not so pleasant wake up call" - as I wonder how many more MILLIONS of people are going to get wiped out by the current "periodic downturn."

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual