What education and worker training changes will be necessary for the U.S. to remain a leader in innovation and economic prosperity? What role will education and workforce skill sets play if the U.S. is to maintain its competitive edge in the "minds race" that is fueling technological change in the global economy? Those were the questions posed to Nobel Prize- winning Physicist Dr. Leon Lederman and other panelists who participated in an Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA)/New America Foundation Issues Forum held on March 23 in Washington, DC. entitled: "A Technology-Oriented U.S. Higher Education and Worker Training System: The Link between Innovation and Economic Prosperity in the 21st Century Global Economy." What follows is a summary of this event and key comments made by the event panelists.

The second in an ongoing series of forums held by EIA and the New America Foundation as part of EIA's policy initiative "The Technology Industry at an Industry Crossroads," the March 23 event attracted more than 100 attendees, including public policy and federal agency representatives, Capitol Hill staff and industry leaders

In his comments, Dr. Lederman, the Director Emeritus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, noted that "education is a system, a complicated system, and the members of the system - the teachers, the parents, the students, the unions, the principals, the schools that train the teachers -- are all components of a system. This system is like an electrical circuit. If you cut the circuit anywhere, you get no current flowing. If we want to fix education, you have to look at the whole system." Compounding this problem is the perception that the typical U.S. school is like "a defensive barrier - it doesn't let change go in," Lederman added. An active member of the board of EIA's National Science &and Technology Education Partnership, Lederman also recalled testimony by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Allan Greenspan. "Greenspan," Lederman pointed out, "was passionate and outspoken in his belief that American students must have a good science education. Greenspan also said `We have been surviving on immigration, and that's kept us going, but that's gonna stop.'" This is a major cause of concern, Lederman noted, because "the anecdotal evidence shows that fewer and fewer scientifically-oriented students are coming to this country."

Shifting the subject from education to workforce training, National Association of Workforce Boards Chief Executive Officer Stephanie Powers described how workforce boards and career centers in communities across the country are grappling with a major question: in a time when there are three million long-termed unemployed, "how do we manage economic transitions?" Workforce boards understand the knowledge economy and the need for higher skills and higher education. But, "the big questions we keep coming back to are: `What are we training people for? What are the skills people will need?" How do we prepare people?' You have social services people trying to figure out the ramifications of free trade." To address these concerns, Powers suggested that policymakers "create a vision and invest in training tthat best supportss the workforce of this nation's economy. Federal investment in workforce development has diminished over time and right now the need for investments and education is the national policy equivalent of going to the moon again."

The Communications Workers Association of America (CWA), one of the largest unions in the country, is also focusing on workforce training, according to CWA Network Technician and Training Administrator Kevin Celata. "With companies slashing programs for training, we are seeing a new mindset," he noted. "Nowadays we lead partnerships for I.T. and telephone workers in the public and private sector and bring the training out to individuals." Lifelong training is becoming increasingly the responsibility and motivation of the worker and consequently, "we are force-feeding these individuals and getting the average union worker to realize he or she has to take the learning upon themselves," he added.

Concluding the panel remarks, EIA President Dave McCurdy noted that "the frustration you are seeing on the issue of offshore outsourcing and slow job recovery is frustration we are all grappling with as a result of structural changes. After the fall of communism, you had 3 billion people enter the workforce. That contributes to the potential for structural changes. And the nature of the economy has changed. This adds up to structural changes, too. And institutions such as schools are racing to keep up. When it comes to education and workforce training, we need to be thinking long-term, we need to think systematically."

NOTE: EIA and New America will hold an Issues Forum on R&D funding on April 14; the featured speaker for that forum will be John Marburger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Bush Administration.
For more information, or to register for the April 14 forum, contact Neil Gaffney of EIA at ngaffney@eia.org or by phone at (703) 907-7792.