Tech Directions - February 2008 - (Page 5)

direct from washington Anne C. Lewis anneclewis@earthlink.net What’s Behind “College for All” A very lucid and provocative analysis of “college for all”—and career and technical education’s timid role in shaping the policy— gives CTE educators much food for thought. Anthony Carnevale, research professor at Georgetown University, explained the political, economic, and social reasons for the stampede toward college for all in a keynote address to a Double the Numbers conference sponsored by Jobs for the Future. Carnevale is an economist with expertise in workforce issues. In his address, he admits to concluding that grade 12 “is not the right end for anyone,” a welcome message to a conference focused on ways to double the enrollment of poor/mi- theory, it allocates opportunity without forcing the government to address labor market outcomes or private economic decisions such as dealing with fair trade. The safe answer for politicians to what to do about global competition is “educa- tion and more education.” Education also is the key response to the country’s economic needs and will become more so as the blue-collar economy that allowed men with a high school education or less to get good jobs fades out. Education drives earnings and opportunity, Carnevale said, and is the primary “allocative institution” in society. Middle-class families know that, but the children of the former working class have not yet caught on. “College for all” works in the Education drives earnings and opportunity, Carnevale said, and is the primary “allocative institution” in society. nority young people in college. His analysis, however, goes beyond the rhetoric and explains the “remarkable” speed with which the country has gone “from school-to-work apprenticeship several years ago in the Clinton era to college for all, or its geeky country cousin, “postsecondary education and training for all.” Along the way, he also asserts that the American working class no longer exists. First of all, education is a political device, according to Carnevale. In Anne Lewis, one of the country’s most respected writers on education policy, works in the Washington, DC, area. www.techdirections.com WASHINGTON 5 http://www.johndeere.com/publications http://www.johndeere.com/publications http://www.techdirections.com

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Tech Directions - February 2008 Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The News Report Technology’s Past Technology Today Mastering Computers How Engineers Engineer—Lessons from My First Big Engineering Project Tips on Creating Complex Geometry Using Solid Modeling Software Press to Test—Shop-Built BJT Checker Is Easy Cable Television Technician International Technology Education Association Conference—Teaching TIDE with Pride Professional Development Opportunities Product Central Free for the Asking More than Fun

Tech Directions - February 2008

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