Chapter 6

The basic idea of this chapter comes down to the importance of education. It reminds me of one of the first chapters we read and the harsh truth that there is no "get rich quick" scheme waiting to be stumbled upon after years of watching Netflix and eating cheetos rather than being educated in some way or another. If you want to get rich quick(er) you go to school, and for that matter you keep going to school, and maybe even some more school after that school. I liked how Wheelan made the point that even if our economy flourishes, unskilled laborers will still not be in demand. "A robust economy does not transform valet parking attendants into college professors," the greatest capital we have to work with in this world is ourselves. Like Wheelan said, the demand for unskilled labor just keeps decreasing as technology advances, and "500 million minds are a terrible thing to waste." he great thing for most Americans is that we have the freedom to make ourselves the most demanded capital in the country. That sounds a bit weird but compared to many countries, we have educational resources all around us. It can cost a person nearly nothing get a high school education, and if that person worlds their butt off for four years, it could cost them nothing to attend college as well. I think education should be at the top of the "World's To-Do List" (that's not a thing but we can pretend it is). We should be focusing on giving as many people the opportunity to be educated as we can. If we focus on educating people, the other items on our "to-do list" will be taken care of. For instance finding a cure for cancer; educated people will be the ones who find the cure for cancer. Just as we have been learning in class, education is one of the biggest, if not THE biggest positive externalities in our economy.