What I want for Michigan’s children
After a number of years, I’m preparing to step away from my work at Michigan Future at the end of this month. I am offering a series of reflections on education in Michigan from my years of work understanding what the future, and the present, will demand of our children. While there have been many others, my most critical learning…
Everything is Not Fine.
Led by New York, big cities had a great decade
The 2010s were a great decade for America's big cities. The 2020 Census found that each of the top 25 cities in the country gained population. 14 of them had population growth of more than 100,000. New York City led the way. Growing by an astonishing 629,000. Only 29 cities in America have a population of more than 629,000. New…
Minnesota led the Great Lakes in population growth
More than a decade ago we asked if the state's economic development strategy worked, what state would you want Michigan to look like? Our answer was Minnesota. At the time the most prosperous state in the Great Lakes. And cold weather and non coastal so that mirroring their economy seemed realistic for Michigan. As the murder of George Floyd made…
America does not have a student loan crisis
Google student loan crisis and you get to choose from 58 million results. Over and over and over again we are told that today's college students, particularly those who pursue a four-year degree, are saddled with debt so large that they are more likely to be paupers than prosperous. So as conventional wisdom goes high school graduates (except for our…