Education and Tech: Evolving Frontiers

Mark W. Frank, PhD
SHSU Chair and Professor of Economics

Upward social mobility is a defining feature in the promise of America. Statistics on upward mobility, however, are grim: in the United States, only half of children today grow up to earn more than their parents. Fifty years ago, this number was around 90 percent. Much can and should be done to reverse this trend. Higher education will be central to improving upward social mobility.

While many middle-income and blue-collar families have seen their incomes stagnate in recent decades, the economic returns to higher education have continued to increase each year since the 1970s. In dynamic, urban-economy states like Texas, California, North Carolina, New York, and Illinois, the annual wages of college educated workers are about double that of high school graduates. Yet, most adults in the U.S. still do not have a college degree.

Retaining the promise of the American Dream depends on the supply of educated, high-skilled workers keeping up with the skill and knowledge demands from our technological advancements. Simply put, for the U.S. economy to remain the innovative envy of the world, we must win the race between education and technology.

The nation has met transformational education challenges before. First with the “common school revival” movement of the pre-Civil War period (facilitating free schooling through public provision) and culminating with passage of compulsory education laws during the post-Civil War era. A second major transformation took place with the high school movement during the first half of the nineteenth century. The average youth in the year 1900 attained about seven years of education; by 1940 the average youth was a high school graduate.

Over a half-century ago, the U.S. got an early jump in the higher education movement with programs like the G.I. Bill of Rights. Starting in the 1970s, however, other industrialized nations began their own mass higher education movements. The U.S., meanwhile, failed to keep its supply of new college graduates on pace with demands from its rapid technological advancements.

If the U.S. is to meet this challenge going forward, the model of Sam Houston State University will play a central role in our shared success. With nearly half our student body being first-generation college students, and with SHSU ranked No. 1 in Texas in improving social mobility, we are leaders of the future and the promise of higher education.

Mark Frank is chair and professor in the Department of Economics in SHSU’s College of Business Administration. His research is focused on the rise in income inequality in the United States.