Machinists applaud President's vocational training initiative

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.examiner.com/x-2071-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner~y2009m5d8-Machinists-applaud-Presidents-vocational-training-initiative?cid=exrss-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner

May 8, 3:06 PM

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers today welcomed the education and re-training proposals outlined by President Barack Obama following the news that the U.S. economy lost another 539,000 jobs in April.

"Not only does the president's proposal bring hope to more than 25 million unemployed and underemployed Americans, it also re-establishes career education and skills training as the national resources they deserve to be," said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. "The value and importance of supporting a new generation of skilled workers in this country cannot be understated."

In remarks delivered today, President Obama set a goal of re-establishing America as the nation with the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. The focus extends to training provided by community colleges and apprenticeship programs in addition to traditional four-year colleges.

"In the weeks to come, I will lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education and community college programs," said Obama. "It's time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems -- we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges."

The president also named community college professor Dr. Jill Biden to oversee a national effort to raises awareness about the value of the nation's community college system.

Author: Ron Moore
Ron Moore is an Examiner from Washington DC. You can see Ron's articles on Ron's Home Page.

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[madrchsod]

1. good idea but......

money for new machine tools for community colleges, instructors,class room space. the devil is in the details and the program has to start now to be in place by fall or next spring.

my community college started a wind turbine course last fall and should be graduating it`s first class this fall or spring. the mig and tig class has had a waiting for the last 2 years.they have 8 welding machines.

this program will not work unless there are changes in our trade policies.