Educating the Poor is a Top Social Issue for the 21st Century

Improving education for the poor should be one of the key issues addressed in the 21st century, according to Nobel laureate Gary Becker, University Professor of Economics and of Sociology.

We've done a disservice to the poor with the educational system we've provided, he said. I'm a great believer in competition that engages a wealth of other areas, whether it’s charter schools or some other form, and we haven’t had that in the cities. We've had monopoly education for the poor, and I think that’s hurt them.

Becker was one of three speakers at World Changing Ideas: A Forum at Gleacher Center November 4 that examined ideas that will make the most dramatic impact on medicine, economics, and the metropolis in the next generation.

The second issue, he said, is to recognize there are a lot of jobs for low-income people in the city. You see immigrants in Chicago and New York who come here with very low skills, and they get jobs. How do they manage it?

The trick is make sure that we give the right incentive not only to immigrants, but also to the native born poor. Get a good education. If they don’t have that education, have enough flexibility in the labor market that they can get jobs. I think it’s a myth to say there are no jobs for poor people in large cities.

Those who joined Becker on the panel were Steve A. N. Goldstein, professor and chairman of the department of pediatrics at the Pritzker School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of Comer Children’s Hospital and Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor, Department of Sociology and Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics.