Our neighbors, our colleagues, our employees and our bosses are increasingly likely to be from somewhere else and to speak a language different from ours. In the community college system, we are focusing tremendous energy on figuring out how to answer the challenge of globalization. This coming March, we will sponsor a major conference on global education, with the generous support of the Stanley Foundation, and I look forward to the fresh ideas that will come out of that. We already know that one of the most important things our community colleges have to do is to make sure that all our colleges offer every student the opportunity to learn about his or her own culture and to experience other cultures. Of course that s important for the full development of every person s potential.
Education is more than just insurance against unemployment.
We must never assume that workers who are technically trained to work in our businesses and industries do not also need a broad background in the arts and humanities. However, it s just as important in the cold, hard light of business. . At a recent meeting of the Southern Growth Policies Board, a speaker noted that US educators are focused perhaps too focused now on boosting math and science scores. He cautioned that we should realize that our great competitive advantages in the world marketplace are the unequaled creativity of our workforce and the worldwide admiration of our culture. He said it's easier to boost math scores than to nurture creativity and called for increased attention to the humanities.