"According to Wayne Gretzky, a great hockey player doesn't skate to where the puck is. A great hockey player skates to where the puck is going to be.
The same is true for economic prosperity. Kentucky needs to anticipate the economic trends headed our way and do what is necessary - and what is hard - to be competitive. In a knowledge economy, success depends on building a workforce that continually masters technological advances, discovers and delivers creative solutions, and alters existing business products and processes and discovers new ones. These skills depend on serious and substantial education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
America - and Kentucky - are not skating fast enough to where that puck will be. Not enough of our kids are interested in careers in math and science. Our collective economic future is at risk.
This country has a problem, and Kentucky can provide the solution. Let's commit ourselves to the tough job of building an education system that produces workers with the right skills for tomorrow's economy. It will require courage to change our old ways. Kentucky has the bad habit of waiting at the end of the line while other states take actions that result in progress for them and leftovers for us.
Our kids and grandkids deserve better. Kentucky can provide national leadership in building tomorrow's workforce. Ask the Gates Foundation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Center on Education and the Economy, the National Governors Association, the Business-Higher Education Forum, and others. They have produced recent reports saying America has a crisis in STEM education that can only be solved with fundamental change in the way we teach our kids.
America's approach to education was made for another time and place. But no other state has been willing to make hard choices and implement substantial changes. Kentucky can be the first. The General Assembly is currently considering three bills - Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 2, and House Bill 5 - that give Kentucky the opportunity to begin making changes that are smarter, more effective, and more substantial than any other state.
One of the biggest obstacles we face is that we lose too many current and potential math and science teachers to private sector jobs that pay better. Several national reports recommend dramatic change in teacher compensation as part of any solution to the STEM crisis. Senate Bills 1 and 2 do that by making pay for math and science teachers more competitive with the private sector at every level of the P-12 system.
The General Assembly already has put Kentucky on a path to raising teacher pay to the average of the surrounding states. That's the right thing to do, but it won't be enough. The private sector will still provide better opportunities for Kentucky's most talented math and science teachers. We need to be really aggressive if we are going to out-recruit private business and put our sharpest minds in our math and science classrooms.
And we need to get the attention of more of our middle and high school students to consider careers as science and math teachers. Last year, Kentucky's colleges and universities produced only one high school physics teacher. We have to do better.
We should tie additional compensation to our teachers' level of training and expertise and the performance of their students. Kentucky needs to care enough about the science and math education our kids need to pay for talented teachers and reward results.
Let's be recognized as a national leader in workforce development by investing in teachers who can inspire a generation of talented scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. We need our kids to develop and sustain a passion for science and math and a willingness to use that energy to prepare for careers in the next generation of businesses and jobs. Let's recruit teachers to make that happen.
Education policy is economic policy. Ask executives at Boeing, Raytheon, and other companies who depend on America's ability to produce a steady stream of scientists and engineers. They will tell you they are worried about having an adequate workforce. They have thousands of high paying jobs in engineering, math, and science waiting for workers with the right skills.
These businesses will go where the talent is. Raytheon recently moved 200 engineering jobs from California to Texas because Texas is better at producing workers with the right skills. Thousands of well-paying jobs are being shipped overseas every year because places like China and India are producing the engineers and technical workers successful businesses need. It is time we bring those jobs to Kentucky.
But we should not settle just for recruiting jobs. We should be creating them. Kentucky's natural resources and America's need for energy independence creates the opportunity for us to be an international leader in energy diversification. We can lead the development of businesses and jobs that provide alternatives to imported oil. America has a problem, and Kentucky can provide the solution. Energy independence is good for national security and it's good for Kentucky's economy.
House Bill 5 provides strategic incentives for developing energy conservation strategies and renewable energy and alternative fuel facilities. It reinforces the goals of Senate Bills 1 and 2 by putting in place the foundation for creating jobs for Kentuckians with the right skills in math and science. Our state's energy sector can be the home of leading industries in renewable and sustainable energy and the source of thousands of high-paying jobs.
It is time for Kentucky to lead. We should choose today to be at the front of the national movement to improve America's performance in math and science and be leaders in building a future of energy independence.
Let's skate to where the puck is going to be. It's what great players - and states - do.
Dr. Lee Todd is president of the University of Kentucky.
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