Letter to the Editor

6812 Wentworth Street

North Chesterfield, VA 23237

March 19, 2015

Paul Krugman, Letters Editor

The New York Times

620 Eighth Avenue

New York, NY 10018-1405

Dear Mr. Krugman:

        In his column titled “Knowledge Isn’t Power” (OP-ED, Feb. 23), Paul Krugman argues that “soaring inequality isn’t about education, it’s about power.  Krugman believes that while his readers insist the failings of education are at the root of inadequate jobs, he feels that this is completely untrue.  It is not education that gets in the way it is people themselves.  

Education is the foundation by which all people build their lives and mold their future. Says civil rights activist Nelson Mandela,” Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  How do you think people of power get to that grand point in their lives?  Education played some part in it.  Granted, there are a few people that have been able to use their family name or the fact that they have “friends in high places” to get to that prominent position they have, but for the most part, it is the educational background that one chose to pursue that got them to the prominent point they attained.

In eschewing education as a solvency to income inequality, Mr. Krugman argues that we should, place "higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and invest the proceeds in programs that help working families."  Never mind that those "programs" would definitely center on job training, or in other words, education.  No matter which way you turn, the root to all things powerful is knowledge.  Just think, that renowned surgeon that has paved new ways to increase the survival rate for high-risk surgeries didn’t know someone to get to that point.  They became the best because they didn’t let their education falter.