Blogs:

Adam B Sullivan, the Editor of Daily Iowan agrees with GOP hopeful Rick Santorum’s criticism of President Barack Obama as a snob for pushing increased education after high school.

However, Sullivan is making the same mistake committed by Santorum. He makes sweeping statement about whether people should get higher education based upon stereotypes and does not consider the factors. At present, millions of people are looking for employment. We cannot afford to make a policy simply based on generalizations. We need to consider the facts.

The facts are out there. If Sullivan had seen this in depth, he would have understood the fact. For example, for McDonald’s job positions, he writes as a place requiring educated workers, Mc Donald provide post school employees and offers training programs for Hamburger U management.

Sullivan mentioned about manufacturing industry also. Manufacturing industry is in need of more training than ever. A study conducted by the Manufacturing Institute, which is a part of the National Association of Manufacturers states that more than 80% of manufacturing companies are not getting sufficient employees who have adequate skills and training.

More than 500,000 job vacancies are left as such, due to shortage of skilled and trained labor force. In the same study, they said that the highly skilled workforce is more important to the success of a manufacturing company than any other aspects, including new product innovation.
Recently, in his speech to the National Governor’s Association, Obama stressed the importance of advanced training for workers in manufacturing industries.

He said that when we talk about higher education, it includes those who go to community college and get trained for manufacturing job also. Manufacturing jobs require well trained employees, who can handle expensive equipment pieces. People cannot get those jobs, unless they have got some training more than what they received in high school.

Training workers in manufacturing and health care fields will be more important to create a strong economy in future. George Town University Center on Education and Workforce specified that America will face shortage of 5 million middle skill labors in five years. These job positions require skills that can be acquired by completing an associate degree or technical certificate program.

Sullivan argues that Obama pushes for university higher education. However, it is crucial to note that President has not said that higher education is compulsory. Rather he wants to ensure that all Americans need to have a chance to get higher education, whether at four year Degree College or community college.

It is essential to take steps for this, because one third of young Americans say that they are worried about college affordability. The federal aid is declining in its value, when compared to skyrocketing tuition cost, which is often accompanied by poor academic preparation.

College may not be for all. However, higher education will definitely increase the chance of getting a job. The unemployment rate is more for Americans with less than a high school diploma than the rate of those who have a bachelor degree or higher degree. These are the reasons for why President recently called on congress to invest $8 billion in developing partnership between businesses and community colleges to train more workers.