“There’s No Alternative to Teaching People.”
When is a billion dollars not enough?
According to Rep. John Peterson of Pennsylvania, it’s
when that’s all the government is willing to spend on vocational
education. Peterson, a member
of the House of Representative’s education appropriations panel, was
referring to the Bush administration’s stated intention to do away with
the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education grants in favor of a
flat billion dollars for vocational education in fiscal 2005.
Regardless if you agree with the current administration
in Washington or not, the fact that someone would think a billion dollars is
chicken feed should suggest how important vocational and technical education
has become in the United States.
According to Vocational Training News, here’s
what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan had to say about it before the
House Education and Workforce Committee: “The purpose of education is to
enable people to move from entry-level jobs up through the ladder as quickly
as they can, and there’s no alternative to teaching people.” Greenspan
went on to say that schools K through 12 must better prepare students to
adapt the increasingly complex demands of the American workplace.
The folks out there in that workplace agree as well.
Almost 5,000 American businesses have signed a resolution advocating
greater Federal government investment in Career and Technical training.
The resolution, sponsored by The National Association of State
Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, stated that vocational education plays a critical role
in the nation’s economic security. You can find out more about this
resolution and the companies that signed it at www.careertech.org.
Many companies are taking concrete steps to partner
with educational institutions. The
schools do what they do best—train employees or prospective employees, and
the business do what they do best—create jobs.
The federal government is helping out with a 250 million dollar
program to provide grants to job training partnerships between community and
technical colleges and high-need industries.
Vocational Training News tells us that research
shows this arrangement significantly improves outcomes for both businesses
and individuals, including higher productivity and higher wages.
It’s a win-win-win situation.
Schools get the revenue for doing the training (which is sometimes
tailor-made for the business partner).
Students get work skills that make them more valuable.
Businesses get a trained workforce and save a ton of money on
training costs.
Here at C-Tech, we've seen the value of developing partners in industry for a long time. We've got a CD showing the exciting things that can result. It's yours for the asking. Just contact David Brady, our Director of Marketing.
Workers get the training they need; businesses get the
knowledgeable workers they want; schools make it all come together.
Sounds like a billion-dollar idea.
Click here to find out about C-Tech's latest partnering with On-Q, and here to learn about our pairing up with Time Warner Cable.
