The Gift of a Dream
By Jill Jenkins
“Hope lies in dreams, in
imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.”
Jonah Salk
Jonah Salk
The
news broadcasts are filled with stories of how unprepared graduating students
are to take jobs in the engineering and technology industries. Some corporations are offering a $10,000.00
bonus to their employees who bring them programmers who know java. Other corporations are importing programmers
from Russia and China and engineers from Pakistan to fill the unfilled
positions. They blame the shortcoming in
the schools in America. Is our education
program really to blame?
It is easy
to point fingers and blame schools that have been underfunded for decades. Most teachers have not seen a salary increase
in more than a decade and many have had their salaries cut. School districts are finding it difficult to
find teachers to fill positions in technology, math and science because
candidates can make so much more money in industry. Many school districts dramatically reduced
their staffs leaving many educators unemployed.
To add to the teachers’ frustration the media slams their results
without understanding the challenges.
Schools in the United States do not just teach
the best of the best. They teach
everyone. Classes are mainstreamed with
special education students, students who do not speak English, and students who
have both behavior problems, but emotional problems. All of the students need to be prepared for
end of the year tests while crowded into classes of forty or more students. The
countries that are often compared to the United States do not teach everyone.
They continually separate students into separate learning environments until
only the brightest and the best receive an academic education. Every new idea the universities developed are
laid across and overwhelming list of learning goals making actual instructional
time a dwindling commodity. Still, most teachers use all of their effort to
help these students attain their goals.
Yes, there are teachers who do not teach the new core. Yes, there are teachers who do not push
students, but they are the minority.
Most teachers would be happy if administrators actually took actions
against the few bad apples who attacks by the media ought to be directed. Furthermore, most of the technology careers
require post-high school education which is a luxury that many students cannot
afford. In other countries that the
United States is compared to higher education is often provided by the state.
What
could large corporations do to help?
Obviously Bill and Melissa Gates have put their money where their mouths
are and so has Warren Buffett. Other
corporations could help as well. Many of
our brightest and best students feel hopeless.
College tuition has become so outrageously expensive that they idea of
pursuing a college degree seem unreachable.
Taking out a student loan seems frightening during these difficult
economic times. Despite the fact that
with a college education, American students could be filling those programming
and engineering jobs, these students settle for a minimum wage job with not
future, because they lack hope. Instead
of complaining about finding appropriately skilled jobs, if these same
corporations offered $10,000.00 scholarships to American teenagers who show
both a strong work ethic and an aptitude, there would be no need to import
talent to fill those positions. If these
corporations offered to pay for the students’ Bachelor’s Degree in exchange for
five years of employment, the American student would have hope and the
corporations would have a large tax break, so everyone would win. In the past, many corporations invested in the
education of their workers who in exchange worked 30 or 40 years for the
company. Companies paid for insurance,
and retirement and workers dedicated their lives to them. Maybe it is time for corporations to give
back to America instead of just complaining about it.
If
American students knew that there was a bright future and path to get to that
future, they would follow it. Students
from other countries are shown that path and they are taking the opportunities. If the corporations of American were not so
short-sighted, they would see that instead of importing workers or sending jobs
to off shore locations, they invested in education of Americans the benefits
would not only increase the power of the corporation, but the nation as a
whole. During the industrial revolution,
many manufacturers exploited their workers to reap a profit; however, Ford paid
his workers a working wage. He invested in his workers. The Ford Company became stronger and a world
leader. I challenge American Corporation
to invest in the future of America. Give
the gift of hope and it will shine for you too.