What good is education now?

The backbone of our country is and always has been its education system. Free education for all, the chance for higher education for most, a huge push to make even the highest levels of education available to anyone who wants it through grants and government initiatives. We BELIEVE that in this country anyone can better themselves, and it has mostly been true due to our committment to providing education to all. We are the beacon and the light in the world in that respect.

Not withstanding that politicians love to rag on how bad they think our education system is, there is never any doubt in anyone's mind that education is the key to a successful life.

So it's not surprising that Obama's rescue package contains items aimed at education. We always include education - either more education, or vocational retraining for workers who lose their jobs.

But what is surprising to me is that no one seems to be talking about the fact that more and better education will do absolutely nothing to help anyone when there are simply not enough jobs to go around. And rising to the professional ranks, which has always been a significant goal of those who believe in education, is no longer a guarantee of a good salary - or even financial security - or even a JOB, of any kind, in the chosen professional field.

Because in the midst of the mass movement of manufacturing jobs overseas, many porfessional jobs have also been quietly migrating, too. Not just customer service jobs ad technical assistance jobs. No, I'm talking about legal and medical jobs. The holy grail of professional aspirations - doctors and lawyers. Although there are still local doctors and local law firms in control of the matter, many many aspects of true professional work are now shipped overseas - your medical test results may interpreted by doctors in India. Your legal documents may be drafted by lawyers in India.

So my question is this: How can we continue to say, in good faith, to our children that it is important to study and do well in school, and to get as much education as you can, when at the end of it the only we can guarantee they'll get for their effort is a scramble to find a food bank with enough food left in it to feed their family for the next week?