I suppose this is natural for me, but I was intrigued by the idea of an “education gap” that the pundits claimed had emerged in our recent election.  Apparently, to over-simplify, there was a distinct disparity between voters’ tendency to favor one candidate or the other, based on whether or not those voters were college graduates.  This was essentially true for both genders.
This puzzled me.  Why should that be?  We’re not talking about ‘educated’ vs ‘uneducated’ here, however we might define those terms.   Instead, we’re speaking of a discernible gap between two sets of educated citizens.
I wondered: Is there something inherently unique about completing a college or university degree that could tend to change the way a citizen viewed politics?
Well, yes, of course. But I’m not sure it’s education-related. I wonder if this enigma is simultaneously more and less subtle that it appears.  The one difference almost all of us have heard is that becoming a college graduate increases your potential for career earnings quite dramatically.
So I wonder if this new education gap isn’t really another economics gap in disguise.  Suppose a voter is making less money at his/her job than a college graduate, with fewer options to change that.  And, for that matter, suppose these voters also notice that they – and many college graduates, as well – are making considerably less than almost all politicians, and certainly either candidate!  Aren’t they much more likely, then, to feel disenfranchised from, forgotten by, not to mention just plain angry at the political establishment?
So, was there an education gap, per se?  Technically, I’m not so sure, but perhaps I’m splitting hairs at this point.  I’m no longer as curious about that.
But, as you’ve guessed by now, I’m still curious. In a day and age when almost all our citizens are ‘better educated’ than most citizens were when our nation was forming, what role does education have in the political process?  There are high school juniors now who will be voting in 2018, and freshmen who will be voting in 2020.  How – or can – we help prepare them to make informed decisions about political matters, regardless of what those individual decisions are?  Indeed – and here’s a scary thought – what have we just taught them already?
I have a respected friend and former colleague who once said “disagreement is with ideas, not with people”.  Have our future voters learned that?  Indeed, have we? Do we even still believe it?  Do our politicians?  There wasn’t much evidence of that in this election (and I don’t profess innocence myself.)
All of us are aware of the immense anger that was exposed in this election.  Anger at insiders, anger at candidates, anger at other voters, anger at the system, anger on social media, anger at and in so many areas.  And that anger has not gone away.  It is an infection we all seem to have caught.  Can we recover?  Can our system?  Can our nation?
Regardless of outcome, can public education have a role in helping prevent another election process like this one? If civility and tolerance for opinions is to survive, and re-flourish, can education continue to help? If not education, who?
Until those questions are cautiously, openly, and honestly addressed, and until difficult answers are found for the common good, there is indeed an education gap.