The Importance of a Rising Tide

I'd put two articles together, one in the Post on Finland's school system (free to all and top scores on international rankings) and one in the Times on the problems of the poor going to college. Featured in the Times story is a man who went to college for a while, then dropped out. He's got a good job in his home community now, but is worried about future insecurity. In my reading of the story, a part of the problem for him was the extensive social network, his family and friends. Going to college wasn't a part of the network's world, so he was climbing a hill. (Does this show the social capital praised by people like Robert Putnam ("Bowling Alone") also has a downside?) (Ironically, his life sounds idyllic. Going back to school, as he finally decides, is essentially buying insurance against future change, at the cost of present happiness.)

Reading between the lines, in Finland there's now a social expectation for learning and education. By making higher education free it's the equivalent of the GI Bill--after World War II many of the vets went to college using the GI Bill's benefits. That was the way many of the boomer's parents achieved some mobility.

Kennedy used the metaphor of a rising tide lifting all boats for the importance of prosperity. But you can apply it also to education--if the society, and the subset of society you belong to, expect everyone to do well in school and go far, it makes things a lot easier.