EDUCATION

The 2020 plan doesn’t yearn for the past, it embraces the future. And it expects education to do the same. With the rapid growth of technology everything speeds up exponentially and this is why education is an essential component to the success of the 2020plan.

The plan expands our country’s vision beyond our borders to the whole world giving rise to business opportunities that we never imagined. It is based on the concept that by embracing our ingenuity and technology we can provide solutions to imperative global issues.

The plan has two major components: The world’s issues and our ability to provide solutions. The issues are already here but for us to live up to our side of the bargain we will need the most educated work force in our history.

We will need education to be moved to the top of the ladder in our national priorities. In the 1960’s we had a nationwide draft of young people to go to war. Now we need that same type of commitment to get our young people to college. With the 2020plan there is no question that America’s future is tied to an educated workforce. There should be no question that we make the commitment to insure that every American who wants at least a community college education can get one. And there should be no question that costs of higher education need to be mitigated so that they don’t prevent people from aspiring to their highest levels.

This isn’t just aspirational – it’s fundamental to our future. We will need each one of these educated people to fill the enormous demands the 2020plan will create. Scientists, engineers, financial analysts, technology experts, tradesmen, translators, business experts, computer scientists, statisticians, the list goes on for miles. We will need to create a workforce that serves a global population 23 times the size of our own.

But education has issues that stem from within and outside of the educational system. Our country is 30th in worldwide high school math and science scores and yet first in hours watching television. We need a reset on our: focus, methods and priorities both in education and in our homes.

This refocus will require a coming together of ideas that sometimes divide the education communities. We will need to look at how we educate our children from early years through high school. We are delivering them into a different world than we have been in the past. It’s our duty to make sure they are ready. Emphasis on science, math, language and international studies will be crucial. But this isn’t just about areas of study it’s also about the skills they must learn. Memorization was important 50 years ago but today its critical thinking. Embracing creativity and ingenuity will be more important than memorizing dates and figures. We will need our educational community to coalesce on some common ground as to how to best educate our citizens. We all have a common goal and it’s not just an aspiration it’s a necessity.

And for those who are without college educations or without employment we will need to provide job training that will make them prepared to work in the new economy. Just like college, it’s our responsibility to provide these hard working people with the tools to participate in our future.

There will be financial costs to these programs but these are investments in our future. The real cost to prepare us for the2020plan can only be measured if we don’t make this investment.