Innovation Requires Best, Brightest
SOURCE: Greenville Online
By Randy Page, Director of Public Relations, Bob Jones University
I have long been an advocate for school choice in South Carolina, because I believe parents should have a seat at the table when it comes to making educational decisions for their children. History shows us that when a state embraces choice, students’ test scores rise as all schools – both public and private – compete to offer the best to our children.
Education is about choices and competition. So is business as well as life. When we have choices, we focus on what is best for us. When nations like the United States embrace competition, we become world leaders in technology and innovation.
That’s why the current crisis this nation faces in filling high-tech jobs is of great concern. Technology is the key to tomorrow’s jobs, and we are not graduating enough students with the high-tech skills to meet current demand, much less future need.
These skills can be summed by the acronym STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Throw in computer science as well, and you have a description of the talents needed in many jobs. Yet unemployment is too high in South Carolina (and the nation) right now, partly because many unemployed persons do not have the necessary technical skills. In fact, there are five unemployed persons for every non-technical job opening in South Carolina. But there are almost twice as many open STEM-based jobs as unemployed persons in the state.
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