By John Bebow - May 22, 2008
The first leg in the MDM agenda is A Talented & Globally Competitive Workforce.
It means:
To achieve those aims, Community Conversations participants recommend such actions as measuring student achievement more broadly than standardized testing, reducing class sizes, lengthening the school year and expanding mentoring and internship opportunities, especially for minority students.
Click here for the detailed agenda regarding A Talented & Globally Competitive Workforce.
One Comment
Education is the cornerstone of improving both the economy and the quality of life. Everyone agrees that the education our children are getting is not fulfilling either their needs or our needs as a society. As you pointed out, our students need to be prepared to compete for jobs on a global scale, which requires an integrated approach from government, business, labor and education - a "knowledge based economy." Michigan's Automation Alley is one blueprint.
The knowledge based economy is being supported in various parts of the U. S. as well as overseas, and is the basis for the World Bank's education intiatives in developing countries, including China. Within this students are prepared for the workforce, whereas our education system seeks to prepare students for college.
Your Common Ground Agenda principle #1, attempts to porvide a very generalized focus, yet seems overly simplistic and a regurgetation of bullets. Our education system does not need programatic solutions but a complete systemic overhaul. Designed in the 1800's for an industrial/agrarian economy, it no longer fulfills the needs of our students in the global competition. We spend more on education then practically every other country; the answer isn't increasing funding but spending it in the right ways. There are many things that require attention in this overhaul to improve the pay of teachers, improve the delivery systems and the way we evealuate student progress.
We also have to overcome the parental and peer pressures that undermine the importance of education. Sadly, many parents do not see the need for education.
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