BlogsFACT OF THE MATTER:
If not us, who? If not now, when?
Normally, my intent is to use this format as an opportunity to expand upon one aspect or another relative to the various services available to you as a member, as well as the role A.I. plays in our community and within the business community specifically.
Today, however, I’m asking you to stop for a moment and reflect upon something that affects you, your family, the people you do business with and the community as well. It relates to what each one of us can do in support of education.
First, let me share some alarming statistics. Currently, it is estimated the dropout rate in Spokane area schools is 40 percent, up from 33 percent a year earlier. Recently I mentioned this statistic to a school teacher who responded that it really isn’t that high, more around 30 to 35 percent. Whatever. No matter the number you use, the fact remains the same; the student dropout rate within our city, region, state and nation is appalling by anyone’s standard.
Normally, my intent is to use this format as an opportunity to expand upon one aspect or another relative to the various services available to you as a member, as well as the role A.I. plays in our community and within the business community specifically.
Today, however, I’m asking you to stop for a moment and reflect upon something that affects you, your family, the people you do business with and the community as well. It relates to what each one of us can do in support of education.
First, let me share some alarming statistics. Currently, it is estimated the dropout rate in Spokane area schools is 40 percent, up from 33 percent a year earlier. Recently I mentioned this statistic to a school teacher who responded that it really isn’t that high, more around 30 to 35 percent. Whatever. No matter the number you use, the fact remains the same; the student dropout rate within our city, region, state and nation is appalling by anyone’s standard.
Furthermore, those students who do manage to keep their eye on the ball and graduate on time are greeted with a virtually non-existent job market and skyrocketing higher-education costs. The Spokesman-Review reported recently that state legislators are considering an additional 14 percent increase in the cost of tuition at state universities this year, on top of a 38 percent increase over the past five years. The same article notes 80 percent of students attending EWU receive, or are eligible to receive, some form of financial aid (including work-study programs) but much of that funding will be going away.
We all know how society is driven by technology these days, and we also recognize that success is contingent on the ability to work in an increasingly technologically-dependent work environment. It is simply no longer good enough for a person to like cars and be good with a wrench.
I grew up working on my jalopy as a matter of necessity; imagine doing that today! It’s just impossible, when problems are diagnosed through the use of technology, not by getting under the hood and rummaging around. If today’s aspiring mechanic doesn’t have at least a high school education, he will find his options severely limited. Would any of us turn our cars over to a mechanic who isn’t certified (read: “qualified”) to repair them? I sure wouldn’t!
Which leads us to the next limitation; without a high school diploma, the ability to continue on to a certified program or to enter a program offered through a community college is beyond reach.
Not to belabor the auto analogy, but if we are truly on the “information highway,” this would-be auto mechanic is headed down a dead-end dirt road and in one way or another, we all pay the price whether in poor service or the lack of qualified employees. And, while we complain about the traffic on the dirt road, are we – as individuals and as businesses – doing what is within our means to create a brighter future?
It is with this in mind that Associated Industries created and launched the A.I. Bright Promise Program this past year, awarding scholarships to 38 students selected from a field of 96 applicants: 19 scholarships directed to students attending the Community Colleges of Spokane and 19 more to students at Eastern Washington University who transferred from one of the Spokane community colleges.
Obviously, we can’t award scholarships to everyone, but it’s a start and you can believe that it’s a big deal to the person who received the funds. (The example of the mechanic, by the way, is based (loosely) upon one of last year’s scholarship recipients who is currently enrolled in the auto mechanic certification program at one of our Spokane community colleges.)
If any of this makes sense to you, then I challenge you to ask yourself: What can I do that might make a difference? It’s not that hard and it’s not that expensive. I read something once that said, “If education is costly, what’s the price of ignorance?”
Obviously, I think the A.I. Bright Promise Program is a start in the right direction and plan to continue to make it as successful as possible. If you, as a member of this organization, want to help out, call me and I will be glad to discuss it with you.
But I’m not asking for a donation.
What I’m asking is that you think about how you have benefited from having an education and how important is it to you. How important is it to your kids? And how important is it to the people who work with you?
Ask yourself the same questions we at Associated Industries asked ourselves when the A.I. Bright Promise Program was first envisioned:
If not us, who? If not now, when?
We can’t help every student. We can’t motivate every student. But if we start now, we can keep a number of people on the right track – and off the dirt road of life.
-- Jim DeWalt
