Paul Gillingham: belief

Transcript context

…A lot of Latin America has above-average years of schooling for their income level, but pretty low test scores, pretty low performance at the top. Just for instance, that English, even getting by in conversation in Mexico, seems to be only about 7 percent. That, to me, is remarkably low, especially given how many of them migrate or wish to migrate. I think education has failed Mexico. Even though people, yes, they show up at the building, the teachers often aren’t good. Sometimes in the pueblos, they’re not even there. I think that Mexicans would absolutely agree with you. I would beg to, in part, differ. The first thing I’d say is that, since forever, a key skill in migrating has precisely been English acquisition. Again, this is global. You get this everywhere. There’s this realization. Migration selects the most entrepreneurial, the most dynamic, generally. This sector goes to the US, either preps beforehand or else learns very quickly here. It’s one of the reasons that they’re economically so successful. Back in Mexico, 7 percent speaking English. Do you think by global comparatives that’s low? For a neighbor, it’s very, very low. What percent of the Mexican population has lived in the US at some point? It’s got to be at least 10 percent, probably higher. That, to me, is stunningly low.…

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