Free Trade 2

The notion of better utilizing Community and State Colleges to better train workers for various service and manufacturing jobs is something that should have been done when NAFTA (and other trade agreements) was struck. Our government failed to think ahead on this issue and assumed that companies and college’s would simply adapt without being told they needed to. Well we’re just now having two candidates talk about reforming our higher learning section of this countries education to help North American’s better compete in a global job market. What is troubling is whether either candidate will follow through on it and more importantly will Congress act on it.

Another thing that needs to be talked about and addressed by both candidates is High School education. Bill Gates understood this long ago. The Bill Gates Foundation has jump started things called "Tech High" high schools. The point of these high schools is to put a great focus on technology, both science and computer based, in order to help students in the future of this economy. In fact these schools are run as public schools but you do have to "apply" to get in. In other words, similar to a college, you have to prove you've got the dedication to learning that you should have to take advantage of the higher quality education.

There is a psychology to working. Obama talks about this often. Never heard McCain talk about the psycology of lines of work but its hard to imagine he doesn't know it exists and understand it. The other part of high school, outside of not involving enough technology is the disappearance of auto shop, metal shop, etc. A lot of people enjoy working with their hands and don't want a desk based job.

Fixing both high school and college level education is needed to help North American's better compete in the global economy, not just college education.