New economy requires bold overhaul of education

We need to connect the dots. Without education, there are no jobs.

Now is not the time to skimp on education or to be timid. With a budget shortfall, lawmakers should take the long view, and bold steps are needed to meet the challenges of the global economy, or they will risk our children's and nation's future. Forget about the old jobs; they are not coming back.

"A recent McKinsey Global Institute report found that 71 percent of U.S. workers hold jobs for which there is decreasing demand, increasing supply, or both," (Newsweek, Dec. 21, 2009). Investing in our children and in Utah's future must begin now.

Ten years from now, in 2020, today's sixth-graders will graduate from college and compete for jobs yet to be invented. We are already behind other nations. China and Brazil have come out of the world financial crisis stronger, richer and better educated. Their workers are better prepared to get the higher-paying jobs anywhere in the world.

The new economy requires a higher-skilled and better-educated work force, where creativity and imagination are the currency needed to succeed. Nobody knows what new jobs will be needed 10 years from now. Our world is changing exponentially while our schools are changing incrementally. For us to say our schools are doing better is not good enough. That's like saying 75 percent effort is good enough. Our children deserve a world-class education.

We continue to do education on the cheap while other nations do the opposite. They invest more while we keep tinkering with an outdated system. Utah should see its growing and younger population as an asset rather than a problem. What we do for students sitting in our classrooms today will determine our tomorrows. We have a choice. And it's not about choosing higher education funding over K-12 education. It's both; however, if we don't invest in elementary/secondary education, we can forget about higher education. That's its pool. We are already spending higher education money on remedial education because we don't do it right the first time.

Let's not talk about reform — that's scary stuff — or another study; rather, let's talk about what legislators should do — stop being enablers, micromanagers and help the State School Board carry out its constitutional charge to educate all children, urban and rural; give local school boards the money based on how many students graduate, go on to living-wage jobs or higher education, and as the teachers' union billboards said, "no excuses."