COMMENTARY | During the most recent State of the Union address, President Barack Obama talked about the need for better education in order to train tomorrow’s workforce. This is hardly a new idea, as education has been a priority in America for a long time. To put this idea into action, the President is proposing an $8 billion “Community College to Career Fund.” The question is, how will this money be spent? Also, can this type of idea create immediate rewards for the economy?
Are job training and education the same?
According to the New York Times, the money “would support community college-based training programs that would expand training to meet the needs of employers in high-growth sectors, provide workers with the latest certified training and skills, and invest in registered apprenticeships and other on-the-job training opportunities.” As one might expect, that is pretty vague, but also very ambitious. My question is, how is this different than what is already going on? Will it create redundancies in existing schools? I know there are inefficiencies in some schools and there are certainly institutions that could prioritize job-training a little more vigorously. However, what about this will be drastically different?
Per student?
The State of the Union address also included a challenge to train two million workers in skills that will “lead directly to a job.” Is the $8 billion supposed to train those two million people? If so, the math comes out to $4,000 per student. What percentage of that money will be spent on salaries for teachers? Will it also include facilities, infrastructure, research and curriculum? An $8 billion sum sounds like a lot of money, but if you break it down, much of that money can very quickly get lost in a large bureaucracy.
Short-term or long-term success?
Spending money on education is certainly a good idea, but I wonder if this is right methodology. The community college system is arguably the backbone of the American system of higher education, but there are also inherent inefficiencies that need to be overcome. Tossing $8 billion into that system may be problematic because that funding will not necessarily go directly to job training. In addition, education is a complex combination of classes, diverse learning environments and professional experience. Are we going to give people one or two skills that are popular now, but will quickly become outdated when the job market changes? Or, should we be focusing on education for the long-term so that workers can be productive and adaptable in a changing world?
The author teaches at the college level and prior to entering the classroom he spent many years in higher education administration. On occasion he also enjoys the pure entertainment of substitute teaching at the high school and middle school levels.