Columbia Core Curriculum

The documentary “Inequality for All” focusing on Robert Reich, a Berkeley professor, Harvard graduate, and previous Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, argues how the United States economy is struggling with the widening income gap; indeed, since the 1970’s, the income gap between the wealthy and middle class has continued to widen which has created many problems within this country.

Stiglitz identifies dwindling opportunity, monopoly power and tax treatment, and the investments of the government as the effects from manipulating the economy to exclusively benefit the top 1%. The societal impact becomes clear when the author states that the ultimate price is the “erosion of our sense of identity,” which includes “fair play, equality of opportunity, and a sense of community” because a majority of people realize the importance of these topics related to the success of themselves and their country (Stiglitz, “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%”). The article concludes with the significance of paying attention to common welfare as a “precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being” that the top 1% have a history of failing to grasp before meeting their

Though well-implemented programs of study require strong cooperative partnerships between core content and CTE teachers, there is still substantial work to be done to ensure that fruitful CTE and general education collaborations exist at every level. Policymakers must communicate and collaborate to align and integrate core content and CTE standards. In the classroom, educators must pool resources to present an integrated curriculum in both CTE and core classes. And accountability systems must be retooled to ensure that aligned metrics assess a range of student knowledge and abilities that predict readiness for success in both college and careers.

In Chapter 10, Stiglitz works to outline the steps we must take to make our economy operate more efficiently and fairly. Stiglitz believes that “another world is possible” (333), and that there is hope in our society in this battle against inequality. Stiglitz starts by clearly defining the argument that central to all the points he makes through out the book; “the model that best describes income determination at the top is not based on individuals contributions to society” (334). Stiglitz asserts that the first glaring inefficiency that must be addressed in our economic system is our mode for determining income. Stiglitz believes that must first start with building an economy in which individuals are rewarded based on their contributions to society, not one’s ability to successfully rent seek.

In “Confronting Inequality”, author Paul Krugman explains how bad income inequality is for the American economy while suggesting what to do to fix this growing problem. Krugman covers topics such as the cost of inequality, how the middle class is over extending themselves, education and health care all while appealing to all three rhetorical elements. Krugman’s article has an overall effective and persuasive argument because of the topics he covers and his appeal to the reader with pathos, logos and ethos.

The Common Core is beneficial to all students, especially for those students interested in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education ‘STEM’ fields. They both teach problem solving skills and focus on learning to use Common Core modules for optimum results. In addition, students learn to think outside the box, they learn how to create a good argument, defend the argument, and look for patterns. Learning these skills will increase their problem solving and reasoning abilities, which prepares them for STEM jobs. Desiree Hall, writes, “The new work is challenging, based on rigorous new Common Core State Standards…they have to explain how they got it. That’s a real brain workout.”(Hall) Moreover, the implementation of the Common Core makes it harder for students to

Paul Krugman, in a recent article has eloquently discussed the issue of unequally distributed income in the United States (Krugman, 2015). He alludes to a number of general economic principles in this article. He talks about how a major misconception about the effect of taxes on income inequality in the United States has been addressed through a recent research carried out by Branko Milanovic and Janet Gornick.

America is one of the world’s largest and prosperous developed countries in the world, but take a closer look and you realize that the great United States of America has an alarmingly large amount of poverty. Where there once used to be an “American Dream” there now lies the cold hard truth, there is less and less opportunity every day and growing inequality every second. Joseph E. Stiglitz how America has turned into a country that would be unrecognizable to any of the founding fathers. In The Price of InequalityStiglitz visits this problem and searches for the source of the economic inequality that the United States is faced with today. Stiglitz came to the conclusion that America is declining and turning into a society like the one

Along with globalization market forces has had the greatest impact on income equalities in the United Sates. Thomas Piketty says that “by definition, in all societies, income inequality is the result of adding up these two components: inequality of income from labor and inequality of income from capital. The more unequally distributed each of these two components is, the greater the total inequality ... [a] decisive factor is the relation between these two dimensions of inequality: to what extent do individuals with high income from labor also enjoy high income from capital? Technically speaking, this relation is a statistical correlation, and the greater the correlation, the greater the total inequality, all other things being equal” (Piketty & Goldhammer, 2014, p. 242). In the U.S. the correlation between the two dimensions has become so astonishing that “President Obama called economic inequality “the defining challenge of our time.” But while Americans acknowledge that the gap between the rich and poor has widened over the last decade, very few see it as a serious issue. Just five percent of Americans think that inequality is a major problem in need of attention” (Fitz,

The Presidential Lecture "What is the Government Doing about Inequality since the 1970's" was quite interesting to me, but challenging to understand. Peter H. Lindert gave the lecture in a business professional point of view and really singled out those interested in economics. Peter H. Lindert has a Ph.D. and is a distinguished professor of economic in university of California, Davis and has a prize-winning book, Growing Public Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge University Press 2004). He earned an A.B from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University (Freetrade Tamiu 2018). In the beginning of his lecture he introduced 4 issues

“Income inequality in the United States has soared to the highest levels since the Great Depression, and the recession has done little to reverse the trend” (Lowrey). Economic inequality has sparked many voices, some which have even been grappled in literature. This issue is not only effecting the people who face these barriers, but as well as the United State’s financial system, which has made economic expansion difficult to accomplish. By executing simple actions, the imbalanced gap can be narrowed. Such actions include raising the minimum wage or increasing taxes on the wealthy.

Income inequality has been a progressively growing issue in the United States, even today. The problem dates back all the way to the Great Depression, although some researchers tend to think that it is older than that. The difference between the wealth of higher-income families and lower-income families has become a great issue. Many people, including our government, think that they know how they can fix it. They have tried time and time again to come up with solutions, yet we are still facing the same obstacle that we were almost one hundred years ago. The effects that this dilemma is setting forth for our United States’ economy, environment, and even our education is repulsing.

Income inequality is a pressing issue in the United States of America. “The unequal distribution of household income or individual income is called the Income Inequality”. It is presented as the percentage of income to a percentage of population. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-prize winning economist is a professor at Columbia university and the Chief economist at the Roosevelt Institute talks about income inequality in one of his interviews with The Atlantic (Nov 2, 2015). He believes that income inequality can be stopped by the citizens and the politicians of the United States before it gets worse. He states that in the years between 2009-2012, 91 percent of all income growth was relished by the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, and the bottom 99 percent did not benefit.

The distribution of income in the United States, is a growing controversy. Far left and far right groups have distinctly differing opinions on income inequality and whether it is beneficial or detrimental to the economic growth of the nation. Mainstream politics, however, tend to be relatively devoid of discussion about the extreme wealth gap. The rising levels, factors, and opinions of income inequality as well as methods of income redistribution will be discussed.

I value that Columbia lets students take in all the knowledge they can in their classes, and use their newfound skills outside of class to help not only to further their path towards their career, but also to improve their school and local