Term Papers on How Technology Effects Modern America

Term Paper Title	How Technology Effects Modern America
# of Words	1278
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.11

How Technology Effects Modern America

U.S. Wage Trends

The microeconomic picture of the U.S. has changed immensely since
1973, and the trends are proving to be consistently downward for
the nation's high  school graduates and high school drop-outs.
"Of all the reasons given for the wage squeeze - international
competition, technology, deregulation, the decline of unions and
defense cuts - technology is probably the most critical.  It has
favored the educated and the skilled," says M. B. Zuckerman,
editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report (7/31/95).  Since
1973, wages adjusted for inflation have declined by about a
quarter for high school dropouts, by a sixth for high school
graduates, and by about 7% for those with some college
education.  Only the wages of college graduates are up.

Of the fastest growing technical jobs, software engineering tops
the list. Carnegie Mellon University reports, "recruitment of
it's software engineering students is up this year by over
20%."  All engineering jobs are paying well, proving that highly
skilled labor is what employers want!  "There is clear evidence
that the supply of workers in the [unskilled labor] categories
already exceeds the demand for their services," says L. Mishel,
Research Director of Welfare Reform Network.

In view of these facts, I wonder if these trends are good or bad
for society. "The danger of the information age is that while in
the short run it may be cheaper to replace workers with
technology, in the long run it is potentially self-destructive
because there will not be enough purchasing power to grow the
economy," M. B. Zuckerman.  My feeling is that the trend
from unskilled labor to highly technical, skilled labor is a good
one!  But, political action must be taken to ensure that this
societal evolution is beneficial to all of us.  "Back in 1970,
a high school diploma could still be a ticket to the middle
income bracket, a nice car in the driveway and a house in the
suburbs.  Today all it gets is a clunker parked on the street,
and a dingy apartment in a low rent building," says Time Magazine
(Jan 30, 1995 issue).

However, in 1970, our government provided our children with a
free education, allowing the vast majority of our population to
earn a high school diploma.  This means that anyone, regardless
of family income, could be educated to a level that would allow
them a comfortable place in the middle class.  Even restrictions
upon child labor hours kept children in school, since they are
not allowed to work full time while under the age of 18.
This government policy was conducive to our economic markets, and
allowed our country to prosper from 1950 through 1970.  Now, our
own prosperity has moved us into a highly technical world, that
requires highly skilled labor.  The natural answer to this
problem, is that the U.S. Government's education policy must keep
pace with the demands of the highly technical job market.  If a
middle class income of 1970 required a high school diploma, and
the middle class income of 1990 requires a college diploma, then
it should be as easy for the children of the 90's to get a
college diploma, as it was for the children of the 70's to get a
high school diploma.  This brings me to the issue of our
country's political process, in a technologically advanced world.

Voting & Poisoned Political Process in The U.S.

The advance of mass communication is natural in a technologically
advanced society.  In our country's short history, we have seen
the development of the printing press, the radio, the television,
and now the Internet; all of these, able to reach millions of
people.  Equally natural, is the poisoning and corruption ...

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