Chancellor Katehi has made a commendable step to raise $1 billion in support for UC Davis through philanthropic donations.
The importance of funding higher education through economically difficult times is often overlooked. Education, for some odd reason, seems to be the first to be cut during recession.
Politicians don’t seem to realize the obvious, that training Americans for the jobs of tomorrow is the simple solution to reducing unemployment and the long-term solution to our macroeconomic problems. Unemployment rates of college graduates are a third the rate of high school dropouts and half the rate of high school graduates. Our other macroeconomic problems include the growing trade deficit with China funded by Chinese investment in the United States. While China will continue to develop its low-skilled labor force, it is impossible for Americans to compete for those low-skilled jobs.
We, Americans, must revert to what we do best. That is; we create new ideas and inventions. Our uniqueness lies in our ability to think outside the box and create high-skilled innovations. Funding education properly will put the right tools in the hands of the next generation of Americans to help us out of this economic mess.
NAZIR SAYED
Junior, economics
