2/25/09 

Columbus Dispatch Blog 

Simone Sebastian

President Barack Obama had a lot to say about education during his first address to a joint session of Congress.

The word “school” came up in his speech last night even more frequently than “crisis.”

One part of Obama’s address was especially familiar to the Columbus school board. They received a similar message from a representative of our local chamber of commerce one week earlier.

Last night, Obama targeted schools for failing to give students the skills needed for the fastest-growing jobs in our increasingly global economy.

Last Tuesday, Bill LaFayette, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce‘s vice president for economic analysis, addressed that issue with the school board:

“We as a community need to prepare a workforce that meets the needs of our economy over the long-term. And Columbus City Schools is obviously a vital, irreplaceable component of that effort.”

He went on to name the following fields among the most important in central-Ohio’s future: information technology, distribution and logistics, aviation, manufacturing technologies, architecture and engineering, finance, tourism, insurance, healthcare, and administrative support.

Board member Stephanie Groce suggested focusing the curriculum of future theme-based schools around these growing fields.

Would you like to see an alternative school with an aviation-based or health-care-based curriculum in Columbus? Or do you think public schools should stick to providing a traditional, basic education?