Editorial: Community colleges could bolster economy

President Barack Obama said last week that he’d like community colleges to play an active role… President Barack Obama said last week that he’d like community colleges to play an active role in creating jobs. He wants to see U.S. community colleges produce five million more graduates by the year 2020. Likewise, Obama proposed spending $12 billion over 10 years to aid colleges in improving programs, courses and facilities at two-year institutions, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

By shifting focus to two-year schools that aim to provide the knowledge and technical skills that can most quickly lead to jobs, this should provide the kick-start we need to employ Americans and liven up the economy.

Earlier this fall, the Community College of Allegheny County took a similar approach. The college waived tuition for 220 laid-off workers to train in high-demand fields like welding, accounting and emergency medicine, in conjunction with local employers.

While the bachelor’s degree and the liberal education provide a certain indicator of success in society, such technical skills that can quickly lead to a job are what workers in need of jobs and our economy require.

Clearly, the president sees the strength in this type of education. U.S. technical schools provide the horsepower to create commerce.

With an ailing economy and Americans waiting for an occupation to continue their lives, efficient and directive education shines through as an appropriate response.

Obama might not be focusing on liberal arts degrees for staunching unemployment, but can the country afford such a luxury at this time? Unemployment hovered around 10 percent in November, a rate that faired slightly better than October’s rates but still isn’t exactly indicative of economic well being. Also, keep in mind that the national unemployment rate was 4.9 percent when the recession began in December of 2007.

The idea is to get people back on their feet in as fast and feasible a way as possible — by quickly and cheaply training them for skilled labor jobs. In this case, Obama has been keen in his actions, and his grassroots approach to this policy is reminiscent of the new way of governing he promised when running last fall. He reminded us that there is credibility in starting policy at the community level, a better course of action than the idealistic approach, where efforts toward a goal trickle to the bottom.

Our country might not embrace technical education as our new liberal education, but it will hopefully survive by it. A decreased unemployment rate will mean stronger buying power of the consumer and more movement of money.

This buying power is not limited to necessities, though. When the United States as a whole has weathered past this economic storm as the president sees, liberal arts-based education will become an increasingly pragmatic financial option. But for now, we need a quick fix.