Apparently, education in North Carolina isn't doing as badly as Matt
might have us think!
From the Dec. 16, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *2   JOBS AND THE ECONOMY:  COMMUNITY COLLEGES LEAD THE WAY
->    In many states, two-year community colleges are counted on
-> to produce skilled workers for local business (Bleakley, W.S.
-> JOURNAL, 11/26).  While other states including Calif., S.C.,
-> Texas and Florida support large community-college systems, N.C. is
-> considered to be the model for how much a community college
-> can do for job training and re-training, writes the paper.
->    In particular, N.C. is one of only a few states to offer
-> free custom-training of workers in the skills needed by a
-> company.  And students rest comfortably knowing that at the end of
-> the line is the high prospect of finding a well-paid job,
-> while paying only $1,000 a year for full-time tuition.
->    The paper features the Guilford Technical Community College,
-> located in Guilford County, halfway between Charlotte and
-> Raleigh.  GTCC officials claim credit for the county's continued
-> economic success, despite workforce cutbacks in its textile,
-> furniture and tobacco industries.  "You look across the county
-> now and you'll see telecommunications, auto-parts, electronics,
-> plastics, metalworking, customer-service and financial jobs that
-> weren't here in the 1970s," explained Don Jud, an economist at
-> the U of North Carolina at Greensboro.  "GTCC has been the key to
-> that."
->    A recent study found that of about 600 recent GTCC
-> graduates, 10% had a starting salary of more than $35,000 a year, 20%
-> began at $25,000 to $30,000 and only 13% were earning less
-> than $10,000, reports the paper.  Another study conducted by
-> North Carolina State U revealed that the hourly wages of 2,600 of the
-> state's community college graduates rose 9% to 17%
-> (inflation-adjusted dollars) in the four years after leaving
-> school, notes the paper.  From the JOURNAL:  "So while broken
-> dreams are the legacy of much job-training, GTCC's students see its
-> formula -- a mix of technical skills and liberal arts as a
-> way to get ahead."
->    Besides training new workers, community colleges are leading
-> the way at re-training workers already on the job in "everything from
-> supervisory skills to blue-print reading and computer
-> basics," writes the paper.  Several years ago, GTCC commissioned a
-> study to determine whether they were producing graduates with the
-> requisite skills for local business.  Business leaders
-> informed GTCC that too many graduates were deficient in basic
-> math and English skills and the college was not teaching courses
-> future workers would need.
->    GTCC President Don Cameron joined forces with Schools
-> Superintendent Jerry Weast to form a "turf-free alliance" to
-> prepare students for the world of work, writes the paper.  They
-> initially targeted the metal-working industry and sponsored a
-> high-school/higher education apprenticeship and curriculum,
-> according to the JOURNAl.  "In the past, our faculty designed the
-> curriculum, and labs and business rarely came to the table," said
-> Cameron.  "Then, when companies said that wasn't good enough, we got
-> defensive."  Finally, "we're partners," he added.
->    According to the JOURNAl, Cameron encouraged business
-> involvement partly because the private sector often funded new
-> equipment.  N.C. state government is too strapped to adequately fund
-> the two-year system.
->    Despite the relative successes of community colleges, some
-> questions plague the future partnership between college and
-> business.  For example, the JOURNAL queries:  "How much public
-> funding for community college should go toward subsidizing skills
-> tailored for a specific company?  And many educators argue that the
-> prime mission of a college, even a two-year college, should be to
-> broaden students minds through liberal arts rather than
-> lead them into blue-collar work."
->    Another problem, noted by Jamie Vollmer, a consultant in
-> Fairfield, Iowa, is parental demands for a four-year degree for their
-> children.  Informing parents that a community college is
-> the best option for their child is "tantamount to saying their
-> children have a genetic virus," said Vollmer.
--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 10
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