Inspiration
My inspiration for this project is based on a first principles approach and the idea that improving societal problems requires policies which eventually become self-sustaining, as compared to reactive approaches which require continual support.
For example, traditional methods of promoting quality education have focused on logistical challenges (such as transportation) and financial incentives (such as HOPE scholarship to attend college in Georgia). As another example, traditional methods of promoting decent work and economic growth have included work training programs, subsidies, and tax advantages for companies hiring locally. This approach requires a continual influx of capital to support these programs, and ultimately fails to provide a long term and sustainable solution to solving these problems. This, in turn, inspired my policy proposals.
What it does
This comprehensive proposal contains seven policies, each designed to be implemented at the secondary school level. This approach of focusing on secondary education is taken in order to increase college matriculation rates (quality education), increase both workforce salaries (decent work and economic growth), and improve industry, innovation, and infrastructure. College graduates make an average of $1.2 million more over their lifetime than high school graduates, and those aged 22-27 with a bachelor’s degree have a median salary of $52,000 annually, versus a median of just $30,000 annually for those with only a high school diploma [1]. This difference is significant, and the resulting increase in wealth from a college degree also increases the chances of financial success for future generations. This is because wealth carries generational impacts, with a Georgetown study finding that being born into a higher income family is a larger indication of future success than intelligence [2].
In light of this data, my approach was to focus on improving society starting with the next generation. If this policy proposal was implemented, I am confident the college matriculation rate would increase significantly. In turn, this would lead to higher average salaries, a higher GDP per capita, and a higher quality of life. Additionally, engaging students with industry more while in high school fosters stronger community ties, higher levels of innovation, and improvements to both industry and infrastructure.
How I built it
This policy proposal is built on several underlying principles, which are outlined below.
1). Cost of implementation must be low enough to be implemented without significant tax increases, as this would be counterproductive to the goal of supporting economic growth. 2). Technology should be utilized when possible to advance society, so long as the technology is not so difficult to implement and maintain that it poses an undue burden to government. 3). A comprehensive and outcomes based approach is better than a prescriptive one to ensure that the policies proposed are relevant in a changing technological, economic, and societal landscape.
Challenges I ran into
The primary challenge of this project was developing policy recommendations which do not have a large cost or labor factor associated with them. For example, the government could increase funding of scholarship programs (such as HOPE and Zell Miller). However, doing so would cost a significant amount of money and require further taxing constituents. Instead, one of the seven proposed policies is the development of a centralized college scholarship platform, allowing students to easily identify and apply for scholarships they may be eligible for. This platform could be implemented at a significantly lower cost, and does not require a continual influx of capital to sustain.
Accomplishments I'm proud of
I am particularly proud of the alignment of each policy with the outlined SDGs, and with the approach of focusing on secondary education, as this is an area that existing government policies have not emphasized, despite significant data showing the effectiveness of doing so.
What I learned
The biggest thing I learned is how to balance competing interests from groups of people incentivized by different things. For example, those preparing to attend college may desire larger government scholarship funds, while taxpayers without college-aged children may view this as an unnecessary use of taxpayer dollars with no direct benefit. This is why the policies proposed focus on low cost of implementation, ease of implementation, and communication with local businesses (and more broadly the local community) to demonstrate why focusing policies on secondary education is critical to improving societal challenges at large.
What's next for the Project
My hope is that regulators both in the state of Georgia and in other jurisdictions would review this policy proposal and consider implementing some of these policies.
References
[1] https://www.aplu.org/our-work/4-policy-and-advocacy/publicuvalues/employment-earnings/#:~:text=The%20earnings%20gap%20between%20college,earnings%20are%20%2430%2C000%20a%20year. [2] https://www.ctpublic.org/education/2019-05-15/georgetown-study-wealth-not-ability-the-biggest-predictor-of-future-success
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