I think at one time in our history, a solution to poverty was education. It was also at a time when there were manufacturing jobs and the kind of economy where possibilities for a better life emerged. However, affirmative action ruined all of this because it created a society where everyone goes to college, many of the government dime, and are not necessarily inherently what we used to call “college material.” I recall speaking to a woman from Russia who said to me that because the Soviet government paid for education everyone got a PHd. There were no jobs for them because all jobs were government ones, and only went to registered communists. Education is important to maintain our culture, but with the mainstay of our economy flagging, it is not always an answer to our societal woes.
I am from Albany, NY. Same scenario as Russia just on a much smaller scale. Probably more than 20 colleges in the area churning out MBA after MBA, no industry and no jobs or opportunity to be had. Just a whole lotta over-"educated" types littering the halls of academia, the state, the power company and whatever other jobs still remain.