Tom Friedman on Necessary Skills & Education for Today
"A Washington lawyer friend recently told me about layoffs at his firm. I
asked him who was getting axed. He said it was interesting: lawyers who were
used to just showing up and having work handed to them were the first to go
because with the bursting of the credit bubble, that flow of work just isn’t
there. But those who have the ability to imagine new services, new
opportunities and new ways to recruit work were being retained. They are the
new untouchables.
That is the key to understanding our full education challenge today. Those
who are waiting for this recession to end so someone can again hand them
work could have a long wait. Those with the imagination to make themselves
untouchables — to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to
provide new services, new ways to attract old customers or new ways to
combine existing technologies — will thrive. Therefore, we not only need a
higher percentage of our kids graduating from high school and college — more
education — but we need more of them with the right education."