Clinton Aides Outline Plan for U.S. Technical Skills Training

The Clinton Administration unveiled a proposal Wednesday to develop a system of national standards and certification in public schools to help students who are not interested in college learn technical skills needed for high-paying jobs.

The program, outlined by Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich, would encourage high schools across the country to provide counseling and training to help students who are not college bound develop specific skills needed by business and industry.

The effort would be part of an overarching goal of the Clinton Administration to give the nation’s work force higher levels of training and make American workers, and U.S. business, more competitive in world markets.

The program, which will be in the form of legislation Administration officials are considering introducing in the coming weeks, would be coupled with efforts to create national academic standards and assessments for elementary and secondary schools, according to Mike Cohen, a consultant to Education Secretary Richard W. Riley.

Reich stressed that America has created the world’s best college and university system for 25% of its young people--those how earn four-year degrees--but has “one of the worst” systems linking school to work for the majority of young people.

The effort would mean a major new emphasis in most school systems, which have traditionally viewed their role as teaching children academics and not certifying them for technical jobs. It would also call upon guidance counselors to play a bigger role in helping students who are not college bound chose careers that offer upward mobility.

Reich and Riley, who testified jointly at a Senate hearing, said America’s economic future depends on a closer linking between schools and the workplace.

The system would motivate students by identifying specific skills they need to compete for high-wage jobs and the certification would help employers assess the qualifications of applicants.

Many of the existing vocational education programs in high schools, he said, teach outdated skills that do not help young people get jobs.