One question I wish Rich had done more with is the one where he is asked “How can we expect the poverty stricken in our country to achieve upward mobility?” The implicit assumption is that a college degree is THE passport to success and prosperity. It isn’t; nor is it the case that people who have earned college degrees necessarily have much upward mobility. Quite a few obtain degrees from schools with low academic standards and when they graduate, they find that the labor market is glutted with people like themselves — nice academic credentials but weak in knowledge and skills.

They wind up doing the same kinds of jobs that any high school student could easily be trained to do.