Education, Healthcare, and Science & Technology

By Marie T. Panec

What are the significant issues and what are solutions that will create greater opportunity

Issues:

• No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has tied the hands of districts wanting to introduce real and lasting education reform. NCLB's focus on ever-higher test scores prevents our schools from offering sound programs designed to address the needs of the whole child.
• Our current economic crisis has worsened the chronic underfunding of now critical retraining and new skills development courses essential to the retooling of our workforce.
• Dramatic reductions in vocational and technical programs have produced more high school graduates lacking in basic workforce skills. This trend has been one of the biggest educational mistakes made over the last three decades.

• NCLB must be repealed and legislation that frees schools to enact real education reform must be passed. School accountability is an essential component of educational reform, but we need clear goals, tied directly to student learning, and data driven assessments of our progress in reaching these goals.
• Continuous changes in technology make job retraining essential. As a nation, we must support the programs that will keep our workforce competitive. Opportunities to learn new job skills are critical to our nation's recovery during the current economic crisis and will remain key to the nation's future economic power.
• Vocational and technical programs should be a part of the curriculum in all secondary schools. Most people learn by doing. Today's students deserve the same opportunities that their parents had to be able to make critical connections between academic content and real life skills.

Issues:

• Too many of our citizens lack access to basic healthcare. The uninsured flood emergency rooms with health problems that could be handled in clinics and doctors' offices.
• Healthcare costs have skyrocketed in the last decade. Every penny of increase in middle-class wages has been spent on rising health insurance premiums.
• Too often, insurance policies cover crisis care but not preventative care, even though prevention saves money and lives.
• When a health crisis strikes, many families discover that their insurance coverage is inadequate or the insurance company hostile. Responsible, hard-working people are plunged into debt and bankruptcy while they fight to provide life-saving care for loved ones.

• As a society we must ensure that every citizen has access to affordable healthcare. To do less is both unconscionable and unwise. Health risks increase for us all when we fail to provide healthcare for everyone.
• Rising costs cannot be contained without enacting reforms. Ultimately, I favor a public option, but we can't wait for the perfect moment. Something must be done now.
• We must begin to emphasize healthy lifestyles and disease prevention as ways to avoid the huge costs that illness brings.
• Our current system encourages unnecessary tests and procedures, sometimes to increase profits but often to avoid malpractice claims. Overhaul of the entire system is needed.
• We spent our money bailing out Wall Street and the auto industry, now it's time to provide economic protection for individual Americans who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in a healthcare crisis. Hard-working, responsible Americans must not be forced to lose their homes or their jobs. We must not become complacent or meaningful reform will not happen.

Issues:

• The developing world is catching up, and in some cases passing us by, in cutting edge science and technology education and job creation.
• Fewer and fewer of our young people are choosing to enter science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields. This is especially true of girls and lower income segments of our population.
• Growth has stalled in this vital area of our economy because incentives for investment are inadequate.

• We need to stop wringing our hands and start reinvigorating our schools and reinvesting in our economic futures. Roadblocks to investment in research and development must be removed. The revitalization of science and technology is essential for our economic recovery.
• Science in schools must be a hands-on, creative experience that is fun for kids. We need more support girls and disadvantaged populations in our secondary schools where students begin serious exploration of future career paths.
• Growth in science and technology fuels job creation and is responsible for the development of completely new industries. Every dollar invested in science and technology, whether by the private sector or the public sector, pays huge dividends.