The political scene is full of phoney arguments about how to build prosperity. A realistic discussion of the future of the economy is needed and a good beginning point would be an agreement on some basic facts. Agreeing on the data provided in this little chart produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics would be a good start.

In 2010, 25.9% of U.S. jobs had a very low educational requirement — less than high school — and by 2020 the proportion of jobs with such a low educational requirement will be even more — 29.5%.  By 2020, 39.7% of jobs will require only a high school education.

The conclusion is that by 2020, 69.2% of American jobs will need an educational level of high school or lower. If 100% of our citizenry have a college degree, it won’t change the fact that in 2020, 69.2% of jobs will only need a high school education, or less. These are the jobs of the working class. And most of these jobs will have such a low wage that these will be the jobs of the class of working poor.

Reality based political discussion should be founded on this basic fact: Most Americans, by far, are members of the working class, and the number of people in the working class is growing. The number of people in the middle class is shrinking. The number in the ruling class is small and fairly stable.

Defining “class” is important. “Class” is determined by the amount of power one has in the system. People in the working class, as individuals, have little power. People in the upper class, comparatively, have a lot of personal power.

Working class people throughout history have found that by standing together they could gain power and make advances for their class. This dynamic of history is now derided by the Fox News propagandists as something undesirable — “class warfare” — but it is a dynamic that more than anything has lifted humanity upwards to a better future.

If we are to have a meaningful political discussion about how to build a future where there is wide spread prosperity, it needs to be reality based. Many political discussions about how to advance future prosperity are based on phoney premises: training people for a “knowledge economy,”  training people in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) or, even worse, changing laws to give corporations more power.  Phoney arguments are ploys to avoid what is of core importance. Such discussion in a political context is like a magician’s distraction — “Look at this shiny object.” The point of the trick is to change the focus of the audience from what is important to what is of little importance. The point of phoney arguments is to divert the attention of the working class from what is important so ever more money and power can be put in the hands of the ruling class.

The hope for a good future for the biggest part of the American population is a political process where the working class stands together with the middle class to bring more justice to the system.  A person adept in STEM may still be a member of the working poor — unless he or she has the power to negotiate a living wage.

How is it possible that a democratic nation as rich as ours should tolerate poor health care, poor nutrition, poor opportunities for a big majority of its citizens? The future of the working class depends on the degree it can find power through unity. Justice cannot be won without a struggle. We need to stop the phoney debates and start talking about what is real.

Senate Bill 316, now being discussed in the Senate Education Committee, outlines a big change in the evaluation system of Ohio’s schools. If approved, by downgrading district evaluations, SB-316 will make many more communities eligible for charter schools and more students eligible to receive “Ed Choice” vouchers to attend private schools.

Currently, a student may receive a “voucher” to attend a private school if he or she is living in a district rated either “Academic Watch” or “Academic Emergency.” And, in these low scoring districts, charter schools may be started. Right now, 134 districts are eligible for charters and vouchers, but SB-316 proposes to change the evaluation scale so that this number will more than double.

The new system uses letter grades, from “A” to “F.” Based on current data, if the new system were in place today, 281 districts would have a grade of “D” or “F,” and each of these districts would be eligible for charter schools and vouchers.

School districts and community schools are referred to as local education agencies or "LEAs"

There are big differences between the state regulations for private schools as compared to charter schools. A charter school is a public school, and must abide by rules governing public schools. Private schools are, well, private. They operate outside of public rules. They are free to create a school environment that advances their mission and they are free to select or reject students based on their own criteria.

Private schools may have very different rules for teacher qualifications, as compared to public schools, and may make demands of teachers and students that would be against the law in a public school. Over 93% of Ohio’s private schools eligible for vouchers are religious schools. (See list here.) The mission of many of these schools, as stated in their mission statements, is religious indoctrination.

It surprises me that the issue of using tax dollars to fund private religious education is seldom or never mentioned in articles I’ve read about Ohio’s voucher system. Opposition to vouchers for religious reasons evidently was squelched in 2002 when the Rehnquist Supreme Count ruled 5-4 to approve the Cleveland voucher program.  I agree with how Justice John Paul Stevens described the 5-4 ruling: “profoundly misguided.” Stevens wrote for the dissenting minority: “Whenever we remove a brick from the wall that was designed to separate religion and government, we increase the risk of religious strife and weaken the foundation of our democracy.”

The focus of opposition to Ohio’s voucher program seems to be solely its impact on the funding of local schools. For each student receiving a voucher, $5,200 is subtracted from his or her home school district. Right now, 12,988 students from 37 different schools districts receive “Ed Choice” vouchers. The cost of Ed Choice voucher to local school districts is now $38 million. The number of vouchers under current law is capped at 60,000, so, with the new evaluation system, the amount spent on vouchers can grow to almost five times its current size, to $312 million.

In the new grading scale, most of Ohio’s highest scoring school districts will be downgraded. If SB-316 is implemented, many communities, who have been told their schools are “excellent,” will soon be told that their schools only rate a grade of “B.” Right now, 382 of Ohio districts and community schools are rated “Excellent,” or “Excellent with Distinction.” Under the new system only 22 of these districts would have a grade of “A.”

• DDN School Voucher Article Fails To Point Out HB136 Will Use Coercive Taxation To Fund Religious Education

Former Dayton congressman Tony Hall was the featured speaker at Montgomery County Democrats annual “Frolic For Funds” fund raiser last Thursday, March 29. Hall said that in his work addressing world hunger, he had eight opportunities to meet Mother Teresa. He said the first time he met her, Mother Teresa explained her mission. Asking the congressman to stretch out his hand, she took his hand and counted these five words on his thumb and fingers: “For the least of these.”

Hall said he has always been proud to be a Democrat because Democrats care about the poor.

Hall said that he was deeply moved by what he saw in Calcutta, almost to the point of despair and Mother Teresa told him that not everyone can come to Calcutta, but everyone can, “Do the thing that is in front of you.” Hall built on those words in his short talk and said that Democrats in Dayton have much to be proud of for making the city better and for making people’s lives better.

Hall said that the task before us to make the world a better place seems too enormous and said that at one time a newspaper reporter said to Mother Teresa that what she was accomplishing was just a “drop in the bucket.” She corrected him, that, “It is just a drop in the ocean.” But, she said, “If I didn’t do it, it would be one less drop.”

Hall was congressman for the Dayton area for 24 years. After he left congress, he served as “United States Ambassador to the United Nations for Food and Agriculture” from 2002 to 2006.

In 1993, Hall fasted for 22 days as protest for congress turning away from its work to help world hunger.