Talk by Vice President Al Gore

Jeanne Shaheen again I assume. Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. Hi how are you. You. Please please be seated. Thank you very much. I want to thank. Ken Selenski for hosting us so graciously here today and I want to thank his wife Grace Slansky for also hosting us. I've been really excited to see some of the new technologies that are being developed and marketed here. They had a little display for Governor Shaheen and me downstairs that had a sample of each of the most important products. There are some really exciting things being made here and I congratulate the

workforce. I want to of course acknowledge Governor Jeanne Shaheen who is doing such an outstanding job of leading the state of New Hampshire and I get to see a lot of governors around this country and I don't know of anyone more dedicated to seeing the success of the people in her state than Governor Shaheen. I want to acknowledge Jane Kilcoyne who is president of Manchester stratum Manchester stratum pea's community college. And that was the year I admire President Kilcoyne is work and three commissioners who are here. Commissioner Terry Morton with Health and Human Services and Commissioner Elizabeth toomy of education

and Commissioner Diane Simons of of labor. And speaking of labor I want to acknowledge John M. Roll the vice president of the AFL CIO and incidentally don't ever underestimate the importance of that Vice-Presidential position. And Dan course Shana's secretary treasurer of the AFL CIO and former governor Walter Peterson. Where are you. Governor thank you very much. Well I'm delighted to be here for a couple of reasons. First of all to talk about how we can help our economy grow by helping Americans learn throughout their lifetimes. And second I'm going to make an important announcement about what our efforts to promote lifetime learning really do mean for New Hampshire. First of all it's obvious that we meet at a time of great prosperity for

America. Many of you are sharing in that prosperity this state under Governor Shaheen his leadership is doing extremely well and nationwide. Under President Clinton's leadership this administration has put in place economic policies that have led to the creation of 16 million new jobs of very low unemployment rate the lowest inflation rate in 32 years. And when you have real low unemployment and down what 3.0 here in New Hampshire now when you have very low unemployment and very low inflation both at the same time that's kind of what you want. You know that's kind of what you aim for. And so we're we're enjoying the fruits of prosperity. The lowest percentage of people on welfare in 29 years the lowest about the the first balanced budget in 29 years and the smallest national government in 35 years.

So these are times when we can really celebrate some successes. But you know the old story about the guy who didn't want to fix the leak in his room when it was raining because he'd get wet. And then when the sun was shining he didn't want to. He didn't see any need to fix the Lipan the leak in the room. Well while the sun is shining and America's economy that's the perfect time to fix problems that have been ignored for too long. And one of the main things we need to focus on is how we can ensure that everybody is able to participate in this prosperity and close the gap between the rich and poor it's been closing up. Thank goodness we've been making progress in raising wages and raising incomes especially at the bottom of the ladder. But in order to participate in the exciting new jobs of the 21st century in the Information Age people have to have the opportunity to get job training and go back to school when necessary and get the new

skills that are essential to use some of these technologies that are on display in this workplace. You have a governor who has not only understood that clearly she has been providing an example for the whole country. And in fact where our economy is concerned under Governor Shaheen leadership nearly seventy nine thousand new jobs have been created. Unemployment's been cut more than 60 percent and incomes have gone up an average of three and a half percent per year. But she knows as I do that we are now in the early stages of an information revolution that is completely transforming the way almost every job is done. I don't care where you work. You've probably seen computers come into the workplace in the last few years and you've seen new technologies that replace the ones that were modern just four or five years ago and the people who use these

technologies have to be able to to gain access to the knowledge they need to make themselves employable and valuable to their employers. And that's why we're talking here today about lifelong learning. And the programs and policies that our nation needs to make sure that everybody has access to lifelong learning. A few decades ago it was very well taken for granted that somebody would graduate from high school or go on to college and learn one set of skills and pick out a career and that would be it and you'd stay on that track and get promoted and earn a little bit higher wages as you went along. But you'd basically stay with that same set of skills your whole lifetime. Well that's those days are gone because of all the rapid changes we know now that we've got to be prepared to to pick up new skills as as we go along because we're competing

with people around the world and we're gaining advantage by using new technologies more rapidly which means we shouldn't see them as as enemies. We need to see changes our friend and we need to adapt to the change. And learning is the way to do it. And that is why last year President Clinton and I took historic steps to make lifetime learning a reality for all Americans. Of course we had a great big struggle over the balanced budget. We finally got the most programs that we wanted. And one of the things that we insisted upon was number one the Hope Scholarship Program which is designed to completely change our whole attitude toward education from a time when it was pretty well assume that people everybody would go to high school and finish up high school to a new attitude that says let's make the the 13th and 14th years

just as commonplace as finishing high school is today. But of course community colleges cost money junior colleges first two years of college. All of that costs money. And we want to make sure that that obstacle doesn't prevent people from going ahead and getting the first two years after high school and HOPE Scholarships are designed to do that. Secondly we proposed and and got and signed into law a lifetime learning tax credit which gives an adult going back to school. A 20 percent tax credit for the first $5000 of tuition. And when it's fully phased in in 2002 it'll be a 20 percent tax credit for the first $10000 of tuition. Earlier this month a lifetime learning tax credits formally finally

went into effect. And I'm very pleased to be able to announce here this morning that according to the brand new estimates 52000 people in New Hampshire will be able to receive and benefit from these lifetime learning tax credits. That. I'm also proud to announce today and this really gives me a great a great deal of pleasure to announce that a wonderful person who is one of New Hampshire's zone will be stepping up to a position of national leadership. To move students from school to work. And it's my pleasure now to announce that our new national director of the school to work office is Stefanie Powers who will. Go to work. In the country. Graduate.

Now why are we here for these announcements. Maybe the answer to that is obvious. I know for the people who work here it's it's pretty obvious. But for those of you who are not familiar with insight technologies let me just tell you briefly what this country is all about. It's a high tech company that requires high tech math skills for its employees in order to compete in the world marketplace and use the new technologies that really make their products possible. They have to have a workforce made up of men and women who are equipped with the knowledge and the skills that are necessary to make these products to use the machinery and the technologies that they have. And yet many of its employees are single parents who find it

difficult to take night classes. Many of its employees. Really find it hard just to be thrown into the marketplace on their own and be expected to get all these new skills at the same time they're balancing work and family. When you get that balance down you put a third element in. Got to go back to school balancing all three. You know it's easy to juggle two two balls juggling three balls you got to figure out the trick of it. Well this company has stepped into that breach and made it easy for its employees to to get the learning that they need. Manchester Community Technical College is one of the keys. It has brought the classes to them and that's made it easy. Thirty percent of the employees of this factory have taken classes right here at this factory and another dozen employees are using inside's tuition reimbursement

plan to earn degrees and what's in it for the company. Well maybe again that's obvious. The investment in the learning and the skills of. The employees translate directly into higher productivity and thus higher profits for the company. It doesn't take a lot of foresight it does take a little foresight. But with a little foresight. Companies can see how investing in the knowledge of their employees helps the bottom line. And of course this company has great leadership and it has long since decided to make that investment. And I want to again underscore the fact that it's not only the company it is the partnership between that company and Manchester Community Technical College and Manchester tech is also working with 20 local businesses to also do on site training for them. So this is a a wonderful

approach and a great program. It's made possible by national commitments embodied in federal programs that support these kinds of partnerships. Now here's the final thing that I want to say in these opening remarks before I go to give and take in kind of a town hall meeting here to flesh out some of these issues. We're in the middle of a great national debate about how our country can adapt to the new realities of this information age. And we're in a big fight with the Congress right now. Where the majority does not agree with President Clinton and me about the importance of education and lifetime learning. And in fact right at this very moment the majority in the Congress is unfortunately trying to abandon bipartisanship and turn back

the clock actions by this Congress right now are threatening to deprive New Hampshire of more than 45 million dollars that is desperately needed for new investments in education and training. And when you come to a place like this and see how how the how much it pays off and how much sense it makes it's hard to understand why they would turn their backs on these investments. I know their are ideologies involved and I know that people cannot draw lines in the sand and then they sometimes lose the ability to talk rationally about the facts of the matter at least I get that impression sometimes. But I honestly believe that it should not be a partisan issue at all. I really think partisanship has no role in this because the facts make the needs so obvious but they are making deep cuts in education and it's not a question of balancing the budget we balance the budget. These investments are

within the first balanced budget in three decades. We've made room for them and the cuts that they are proposing to make down there they've already passed them out of committee include 2.7 million dollars that would make it possible to have smaller classroom sizes in the early grades. That's that's the amount that's cut just for New Hampshire. A quarter of a million dollars for new educational technology. More than that cut from Head Start. More than that cut from adults and dislocated worker training a half a million dollars to New Hampshire that has been cut for school to work and money that would make it possible for interest free bonds to local communities to modernize school buildings and fix the leaks in those roofs and get rid of such a heavy reliance on portable classrooms and expand the

facilities so that you could have more time for each teacher in a smaller classroom size with more classrooms. That money has been cut that would have made possible. Thirty seven million dollars in interest free bonding. Here in New Hampshire to help out the financial problems in local school districts. Well I think it's a mistake for them to make these cuts and I believe that New Hampshire has the ability to speak loudly and clearly in this national debate over how important education and lifetime learning really are. And so I'm looking forward to my discussion with those of you here today to kind of eliminate some of these issues and I really do believe that what we need is progress and not partisanship. We need to invest in our future and I think this group here today is showing all Americans what we can accomplish when we work together. So I'm eager to talk with you about how we

can keep the progress going and thank you for having me here at the company today. Thank you very much. I'd like to begin not only out of protocol but out of personal respect. With the governor. Because Governor you really have been a leader in this state and nationally in making the point about why education and lifelong learning are so important to our future. Tell us why they're so important to New Hampshire. They're going to bring you a microphone I believe actually the vice president thought I can go first because he knew that I would emphasize empathize with the difficulties of partisan politics and trying to fund education. I certainly think that we in New Hampshire recognize the

importance of investing in education. I was with a group of businesspeople last week and I said what's the number one concern that you have as you look at continued economic prosperity in this state. What do we need to do. And to a person they said it's making sure we have a skilled workforce. And we talked about some ideas about how to do that. And of course one of the things that came out was the Community Technical College system and the kind of partnerships that are going on right here to try and make sure that our workforce has the skills that they're going to need to compete. And the. Partnership that goes on between the public and private sector here in New Hampshire is something that we learned a long time ago. We had to do if we were going to address so many issues because as we all know we don't have the kind of. Big government that allows us to get programs done in

a way that some other states do and the kind of assistance we get at the federal level and programs like Goals 2000 for assistance for our university system I'm in the school the work program and I'm very pleased that Stefanie Powers is from New Hampshire is going to be having that program so that I know there's a friendly voice that I can call when we need to get things done. But those investments in education are absolutely critical to us here and we're going to continue to work to make sure that we invest in the people of this state in the way that we need to because it's important for people to get ahead. And it's important for our economy to get ahead. So thank you for your efforts in this area. You are really lucky to have a somebody with a background as a teacher cares about the children cares about the future. And you made reference governor to the

ongoing struggles that you've had with the legislature on education funding. I get a chance to see a lot of struggles around the country over the same issue and without getting into the details of the one here that's your states matter. I will say this. Our national proposals to provide interest free bonding for local communities to modernize their schools to provide school to work money summer jobs program all these things that are being cut now by the Congress. If we can persuade them to change their minds and allow these programs to go forward it will make it easier for states that are struggling with these issues internally to come up with solutions. If these cuts go through then it makes it harder for New Hampshire and other states to get together across party lines and to find solutions for these problems.

So I did want to make that point. Now I want it I just announced Stephanie Powers appointment. I don't I want you I want to get right to work. Stephanie tell us about. Tell us about the priorities in school to work and what and what's what's needed. Thank you Mr. Vice. They will come on it's on. Now there we go. Thank you. First I would like to take a personal moment to thank you and the President for your confidence and in pointing me to the national directorship of the school to work program. And I look forward to continue to serving in your administration. So thank you very much for that school to work school to work and brings together the best components of learning. We believe it brings together academics learned in the classroom and it brings together apply learning right on the floor of companies just like inside technology bringing students into companies to learn and to apply what they have been learning in the classrooms. It really brings teachers

and the business community together to help each other so that they can help students get on the right path. A strong start toward careers in college. We think it is one of the most investments most important investments that we can make in the future prosperity of our country. And as the president used to say in the campaign in New Hampshire in the early days we don't have a person to waste. And I think that that is a very strong underlying modern foundation for school to work. We don't have a child's education to waste. We don't have a person to waste in this country. We can't afford it for a strong future. Good. That's a great start. Thank you. I want to underscore the importance of school to work because that transition is one that can spell the difference between success and failure. In

somebodies efforts to get it to get a good job. I know in my generation a lot of folks used to point out the number of people. Coming out of college with degrees in English and history and all great learning programs but ones where when they went into the workforce they found well. Now how can I use this. And of course the ability to learn it gave them is extremely useful. But the transition that's critical for a lot of people is getting them using the ability to learn using the base of knowledge you have acquired and then adding to that. The very practical. Things that you have to know in order to land a good job in the school to work. Partnerships can fill that gap. I think that we have a group of students here who have been involved in New Hampshire school to work program is that can you guys you can you tell us about it.

Do we have a mike here. Tell us your name first of all. Hello. My name is Christopher Kelly. I'm a graduate from my Milford High School in Dover New Hampshire and I've been involved in the past year with the school work program working with a company called exploration physics International. Hold it close to your mountaineering exploration because it's international. They're also out of Milford and I design web pages and use various other net technologies to deliver cutting edge technology for the Internet. The past year I've been working in conjunction with over for high school and the company on a project called Computer drivers that come. It's a Web site that's designed to find hard pieces of software that are vital to computers proper working. And it's the company has given me financial backing and they've worked with the school to give me credit and also the knowledge that I will have a better chance of getting the job that I want because of what I've gotten from this program well

that's great. Now. It's exploration physics International. OK. And and your ability to hold out a job with them came because the school to work program enabled you to learn specialized skills that are valuable to the company. Yes they've they've helped me with various computer programming web programming and these are the two incredibly vital parts of the Internet and that's what helped me get the job with them and it's helped me with this project that I've been working on for the past year and a half. Are you having fun. Oh I'm having a lot of fun. Good for you. Well thank you very much. Thank you. What is. That. For you. I'm going to ask you to speak also but before you hand them the microphone are you going to continue your education. Yes. In the fall. Being attending Virginia Tech where majoring computer science and hopefully get a great job afterward.

Well that's great. Very good. Thank you very much. So it's not only a school to work kids work school also. You've you've now gotten the the the desire to go up to higher levels and then from that an even better job that's very exciting. Yeah. Tell us your name. Hi I'm Matthew Perry. I also work at physics international as a graphic artist. I do webpage design and graphics and logos and that sort of thing. Did you go from there. Did you go straight from high school to there. I'm still in high school next year I'll be able to take advantage of school to work program and they go through the motions and have my senior project and and hopefully graduate and go to college. All that's that's that's very good. So you're what are you a junior in high. You were the last year. I'm a rising senior. I'm going to be a senior. And you started to

work in your journey year designing web page. Yes. These kids the day. It's real and after you graduate and you plan to go to to college do you know where I would like to go to Savannah perhaps Rhode Island. To. Art School. And what kind of what kind of career do you want as a draftsman. Maybe a draftsman or something along the lines of design maybe a graphic artist. Now what is it specifically that you hope to do in the school to work program in the school work program. I'd like to enhance the skills that I have and get better training in the in some classes that I need and just enhance my abilities to be productive in the job market. OK. Very good. Well thank you very much and best of luck to you. Thank. You. How many times in the past have you run across young people who graduate

from high school. And really had no idea what they were going to do and search and just kind of floundered around for a while. When the when the president says we don't have a person to waste. That's one of the situations he's referring to and school to work gives that bridge right into that workforce and high technology jobs. Any other young people want to describe their experience here. But here OK. I should kept the microphone over here. Us tell us your name. My name is Courtney Mallinson. I am a high school graduate former intern for the south central New Hampshire school to grant partnership auspice and I am now pursuing a degree in biotechnology at Stratton's New Hampshire Community Technical College. Did you graduate this past spring. No before that. Before that the year before. Okay. And what kind of career do you hope to have in biotechnology. I want to get into research. I think one of the

things that I would like to do the most is to try to help find a cure for AIDS. Good for you. That's that's great. That's a wonderful ambition. And are you now at Tech you're now in college. Right now I'm studying at the of division at peace. That's where their labs are located. OK. OK. Very good. Good luck to you. Thank you. Thank you. I want to point out that in the book the cuts in the congressional budget proposal that I mentioned there would be a million dollars cut out from the school to work initiative and a half a million dollars of that would be taken away from New Hampshire. I'm wondering if anybody here could describe. What you're trying to accomplish in the New Hampshire school to work. Program that would

be jeopardized by cutting that half million dollars out of the program. Anybody here with the state school to work program who would. Yes. OK. Tell us your name. Thank you. My name is Virginia Irwin and I work in the department of education and career development. What we have tried to do with school to work is to make it sustainable in New Hampshire. We've never looked at it as a program but rather as a strategy for education reform. And if we if we suffer a half a million dollar cut the local partnerships programs that these students participated in won't have that last year of funding to make this a sustainable activity. We've had a lot of opportunities to work with businesses and other community people to make this a long term part of the fabric of how we do education and it will severely hurt us. We have 44 partnerships in 289 schools in a hundred and thirteen thousand students involved in schools who work. So it will have a great impact on what we do know.

I want you to elaborate elaborate on one thing you said thank you for. Shaking hands with you. Thank you. I want you to elaborate on one thing that you said. You said you don't think of it as a program but rather as a as a strategy. And I think that's a real insight that we ought to elaborate on a little bit what you mean. Correct me if I'm wrong is that this particular effort makes it possible to create these partnerships. And to link up the the schools and the people who want training and the potential employers in having a partnership effort that really does get the job done in a practical way. Is that is that what you're saying. Absolutely. That's absolutely the tact that we've taken in this state because we really believe that that's how things move forward with that level of partnership similar to the way this company works with its employees with community technical colleges and with its business partners. Now some people who might be skeptical about all this might say well that would happen

anyway you don't need to be an organized effort to create those partnerships. What would you say to them. I would say that that's not the case because you need to have the energy to keep that. Education don't always have the opportunity to get beyond the education wall so they need to bring people in to help them understand the advances in technology advances and opportunities. And so you need the energy to make that happen until it is second nature until it's like taking a shower. Once they once they get into that pattern they realize it's good. Absolutely. And they see the benefits and sometimes I say why weren't we doing that before. But you do need to get them over the hump over the inertia pass the natural human tendency just to resist coming up with something brand new because they don't know whether it's going to be worthwhile or not. But when the when the school to work program brings them together gives them the the design that we know works and then they get

involved in it then they realize this is a good thing and it kind of spreads like wildfire. Absolutely and you can see the benefit that these students have gotten from it and we want that to happen for all of our children. Now what that means for one thing is and I want to drive this point home. It means that for a relatively small investment. We can get very large results because we're able to leverage the resources and the interest and commitment of the private businesses the existing investments in the community college system and the existing desire on the part of people of all ages to get this this training and and use it to get into the workforce so. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Mr. Sowinski you've. Thank you. I'd like to. I'd like to thank you again and grace for hosting us here today. But I'd like to

invite you to be a formal part of this discussion. I said in my opening comments that you find it profitable to invest in the. Knowledge and learning and skills of your workforce. Tell us a little bit more about that. And if you could give us some practical examples that that help to illustrate it. One one of one of the needs that we've had is as we've continued to grow is to a need for what we call group leaders and group leaders here at Insight technology did not formally supervise us in the sense of hiring firing performance reviews but they did people who give the day to day guidance to the assembly work is on the production floor make sure that they've had got the proper equipment tools to do the job. Did a person at the assembly work is first go to for guidance and assistance and so on. All right. And initially what we did is as we knew that increasing numbers of group leaders we just took the best assembler we had if you will on the line and say Pothier a group leader and his successor.

I'm no magician and success is not now that was a puzzle. I just want to get that part down. Our success if that was not for great and what we found was that the people having excellent assembly skills and being a great assembler was not sufficient was was important but not sufficient to be a good group leader and they needed certain interpersonal skills. What I've heard referred to in some college courses is touchy feely. That's the standard because Hillary is where she is going. But the interpersonal dynamics the ability to give people guides and instruction without coming across as authoritarian leadership skill right. That that was lacking and also some some math skills in terms of if we have to do 1000 units a month. Yeah what does that work out to a day. And are we on pace or are we both falling behind. Pace if our yield rate is 90 percent. How many do we have to start at the beginning of the month in order to yield you know a thousand or what have you at the

end of the month. Those those kind of skills if we're mixing chemical and we know that a mixture of two ounces is good for producing 50 units. How many do we need to produce. How much do we need to mix if we're only going to do 25 units today. Those kind of things. And that was something that we felt was worth investing in people to develop the skills we'd try to promote from within we know to people we know they fit in well with the company they know. They note a product that makes a lot more sense in going outside and trying to find somebody which is also hit and miss and that's working out well. That's been working out well. Where are you. How are you giving them these leadership skills. Well we try to do it ourselves initially but we found that we needed a more formal structure and that's when we returned to New Hampshire Technical College. And one of the one of the things I did not mention in my opening comments is. Another part of our agenda to promote lifelong learning is something called Section 1 2 7. We need to get better names for these things. But. That's the one that gives employers a big tax credit up

to five thousand two hundred dollars. I think if you pay the tuition for your employees to go to the community college and I assume you've taken advantage of that. I don't think so. You know. Paul we certainly appreciate you comment. Well the way you can take advantage of it is. What are you are you paying tuition for your tuition reimbursement. We have a sliding scale based on the grade that they receive if they get an AA it's a hundred percent tuition. Frankly if they drop out they get zero percent reimbursement. And it's a sliding scale in between. And that's the tuition reimbursement take. You know obviously courses outside the courses that are being given inside it what we've been referring to you know we just pay for it. And you know it's no

the individuals are not paying tuition for that. That's strictly an in-house training course that's free to them. And I mentioned that up to a third of your employees are receiving in-house learning. Is that right. I'd say a third of taking some form of of education and training. There's about 18 currently enrolled in the in-house training and some additional ones we're involved. Well I appreciate that very much awe. Are there some of. Is there an employee inside here who who's taking advantage of this. Training and education side who would like to talk about it. And embody it. The second part of that would you like to talk about. You. Who wants to speak. Everybody's pointed somebody else here. Would you like to. Thank you. Tell us your name. Yes my name is Dan Simon in I'm here in say technology and I'm a group leader and I'm enrolled in the course that has been offered to us here. And it's really opened me up to opportunity in

advancement in the company it's helped me to sharpen my skills on the job. It's also helped me as Ken said the interpersonal communication skills are very important in the role that I play here in the company. Being able to communicate my employees on a positive aspect. It's sharp. It has and me as an individual to develop. I have used any of the skills that you learn here. At home. Yes I do. I use it. All that I learn in class here helps me develop as a human being and I can walk any place in life with that. So yes I do take it outside of here as well. Tell me tell tell us an example of the kinds of skills that we're talking about here. We call them leadership skills. You know interpersonal dynamics.

Is there a concrete example that you could give where you have changed your. Way of communicating or way of relating to the people you work with as a result of what you learn. Yes it's helped me not to be negative with the people that I train. It helps me to stand in a positive aspect with them. And also if I. Have situations that a need to deal with. Them might be conflicting in time and train in that positive aspect. So when when when you have a complicated task to perform with a lot of people who have to work together there is sometimes a mistake people make of thinking that it's all just intellectual or you just transfer knowledge back and forth and that's all you need. But in order for a team to work well together the emotional environment has to be conducive to teamwork and the team leader has to understand the emotional messages as well as the the

information that's being exchanged in order for that team to to work well together. And that was that that was something that. Maybe you knew intuitively but you didn't and didn't know how to translate it into the workplace until you got the training right. It's the training has helped me to create that team and to use it in the work flow of the day the people that I work with. Oh that's great. I appreciate it. And thank you and thanks for answering my question about whether you are using it in other parts of your life. Yes I do. Yeah. People often do. People often have that reaction. Good job. I was able to coax one of you to speak up is there is there somebody else who's willing to talk about what it has meant. Here you go. Now that she has broken the ice. Tell us your name. My name is Zombieland and I've been taking a course. I started at Second start taking my GED and then right through here we've

gone through this course which is helping me. And I. Want to go through for you. For. Other. Classes. That's great. Now were you already working here when you went through your GED. Yes I see. And it did. Did the company help you do that. Yes. Well that's great. And then after you got your GED. What made you decide to take this program. What did the company suggested or did you just go from it took a couple of computer courses that they paid for also and then they invited me to this course and it's just to help out. Right. A lot to learn. OK. And as I asked her Could you give us an example of something you've learned in this course that's made it easier for you to to really help the company or to do your job a lot better. Oh not did the mouse in figuring out like what the epoxies and stuff. Yes we have to break things down like you said the epoxies.

I know this but you might want to explain it to the other side of. Things that stick together. So what does that. Oh I say OK. OK. Well I have to have a course here. So. But I think it's a lot of math. Yeah. That helps. Well that's that's great. Are you are you enjoying it. Yes yes. And I'd like to go to management school. Laughter. Oh so you've got your sights set even higher. What I want. Well good you but when you came to work here. How long ago did you come to work here. Seven years ago seven years ago. And you had not you had not finished high school. No. At that time no. So now here's somebody who I had didn't have a high school degree came to work here with the assistance of the company has gone through the GED now has gone on the courses of higher education and is now looking toward management school. Congratulations.

You know there's a basic There's a basic truth here that I'd like to to try to get at. The the most valuable asset we have in the United States of America is the unused brainpower and the unused creativity of the men and women in our in our country. And as we look toward competing in the world economy in the 21st century. And even more important than that as we look to the challenge of making it possible for our citizens to live fulfilling lives in the 21st century we need to really concentrate on the most effective ways to develop that potential and this person really. Tell me your name again. Suzanne really illustrates this. I'm sorry I forgot.

She really illustrates this truth. Here's somebody who is obviously extremely intelligent has leadership skills but they were not developed to her potential because she had not had the opportunity for whatever reason to go through the educational system. Because of an employer that's enlightened and understands his own enlightened self interest. This Suzanne has been able to develop more of her potential. Her story you can multiply by millions and tens of millions in the United States. We need to become a learning society. We need to become a learning nation. But it does not happen by accident. Even when you have employers who understand that even when you have employees who want it we still need these partnerships. We still need these organized national efforts to invest in lifelong learning. After all you know

when our country was created. The whole basis for democracy and representative democracy was the insight that. Every average citizen is the person best able to guide the destiny of our nation. That's what democracy ideas democracy is based on. Well we need to take that same philosophy into the workplace and rely on efforts to get these enhanced skills to all of the people in the workplace. Now I want to call on Jane Kilcoyne. Now as I mentioned she is president of the Manchester stratum PS community technical college. And I'd like you to speak not only for your institution but for all of the technical colleges in New Hampshire if you could. And tell us what you believe your role is and why it's important in this new economy that we're creating. Thank you Mr. Vice President. We believe that a healthy economy makes for a healthy

nation. And it certainly makes for a healthy state. And our role in a healthy economy is to give people the opportunity to develop those skills that are demanded by the companies that pay high wages. We feel that we can compete as a state or as a nation even at minimum wage level. And we really don't want to we want to compete at that high and where the quality of life becomes different. And and it enables really have a fulfilling life and a fulfilling job. Therefore I'm a bit prejudiced as you might expect. But when I see something like that banner there this is building a stronger New Hampshire 21st century skills for 21st century jobs. I know that that's our role. And my colleagues in our system understand and know that that's our role. Our students here are all success stories for you. What we

see as our primary mission is Workforce preparation. And workforce develop. We we bring students who have come just from the school to work program which we work very closely with with the high schools or high school generally high school graduates or we have people up to my age and beyond. Going to school all the time. By the way I graduated two years ago. I'm my own lifelong learning. But in fact we're dedicated to that concept that we provide access and the talent and the situations for people to learn. Our colleges are in over 80 companies in this state have been in the last few years in the last few years. I would estimate that we have trained or educated in place in companies as many as 90000

people. I would suggest to you that we're the best bargain in education and training in the United States. I would also suggest as companies such as Mr. Selenski company know those companies who invest in training and education nationally have a 57 percent higher gross sales per employee and a 37 percent higher gross net per employee than those companies that do not invest in education and training. We think that we've done a good job in the 20th century. But we are focused totally on the 21st century. Thank you. Keep up the good work. Thank you very much. That was that was very inspiring and I'd like to call on someone who's willing to speak up who somebody who is working and going to

school at the same time you mentioned that companies that invest in this are better off. We know also from the statistics that people who go on to school and earn higher wages who's going through that experience right now who would be willing right here. I don't speak English very well but I hope you understand me. My name is B. I'm from Rwanda small country in the middle of Africa. When I was in my country I was. It is you said the news of that that I had 12 years experience. And at that time when I was doing my master's in public I had two months before I finished the war broke out and I left my country I came into this country after that when I live in this country I had to start over. I went to Dover.

You said I said can I. After that I took my GED. I went. I said I'd done for nothing. I wanted to but to go ahead and be about two days mate. Do you keep in mind what my. Indwell needs them. I'm doing very well. I just have to work to go to school. Everything it's hard for me because I'm not used to that kind of right here. It's too fast. Yeah. And now I went through. So cupro Britain because I was not accepted into the nursing program. I had to go to a pride in my son she said ne Essex Community College and now I'm accepted there. But de-program I have. I applied for financial aid but I cannot get a grant because. They say I have a Bachelor

degree or read and that I cannot use it but I do get it in this country. I would like to ask you if some way you can give last an opportunity make it draining. In the past it is because we haven't it. In French. We used the same book but we cannot practice in this country and if we want to go ahead and say we don't want to leave somebody behind please think for us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for your comment and let me respond directly to you. And then I will follow up by having a staff member make sure that you get the information that will be most helpful to you. The hope

scholarship program and the Lifetime Learning tax credit program. The two things I mentioned at the outset. Are available to you regardless of the fact that you have a bachelor's degree. It's available to anyone regardless of the degree that that you have. You can use that tax credit to get training and education and we all wish you well. And of course when you said you were from Rwanda a lot of us fell at the same time we want to express our. Condolences to you for the suffering that's going on in your in your native country. My wife Tipper went to Rwanda during that time to help care. For some of the children and draw some attention to their suffering and I know that the troubles are not completely over. And President Clinton went there as you know just a few months ago and we're doing our best to to try to alleviate the suffering

and the hatred and bloodshed there. But we're glad that you and your children and your niece are here and that and we'll work with you to make sure that you get access to that training and make sure that that happens. OK. Is there someone else who. Yes. Back here. Hi my name is Steve nettle. And. When I graduated high school it wasn't possible for me to go to college. And. I took on a career at a financial institution and I was laid off and I was approached by a New Hampshire job training Council and they made it financially possible for me to go back to school. Get my computer engineering degree which I'm still going for. But now that I've got two years under my belt I can compete in the job force. And excuse me I'm kind of nervous. You're doing great. I was looking for a job and one of the teachers at my college

gave me a list of companies to call and I was able to obtain a job at Allegro Microsystems in Concord New Hampshire. I do layout and design of integrated circuits which I had no idea even existed before I went to school. And that's just my story and I think that's a pretty sophisticated job. Yes. Yes. Like I said I'm two years into my degree. I'm going to school part time and Allegro Microsystems is paying for my degree with a reimbursement plan. And. I'm I'm very happy that the New Hampshire job training Council has given me this opportunity. That's great. Good. Good luck to you. Thank you. Thank you very much. You know this is a very interesting example of something that is going on in our economy. We still have some unemployment. And there's still. A gap between rich and poor.

But when you look in the want ads you'll find a lot of job openings that companies are trying to fill. And they can't get people to come in and fill the jobs. One for me no skills that's it. Of course in order for them to fill those jobs they have to go to school they have to get the training they have to get the knowledge and the skills. Right now there's a big controversy in the Congress about. Lifting the immigration limits for people with higher skills to come in and fill these jobs. Well. Pardon me but yes that's something that needs to be debated and handled correctly. But. Why don't we at the same time make a commitment beyond partisanship to invest what is needed to give the skills to Americans so that they can fill those jobs so that they can

get the education and respond to the want ads the same way. By all means we welcome immigrants with open arms and those with high skills with open arms but don't do that while at the same time making the slashing cuts in the programs we need to make it possible for more people to do what he's just done. Go back to school get those skills and fill those jobs. You said that we can we can choose the kind of economy we want. We can go after the minimum wage markets. We can try to race to the bottom and make sure that nobody competes. By cutting standards and cutting wages and

making the cheapest products available on the world market place or. We can race to the top. And if if we decide to choose that latter course which has higher standards of living better incomes more opportunities we have to understand how to win that race. We can win the race. It's not complicated it's just like training for a race if you want to if you are run the marathon if you want to run the half mile race or whatever you figure out what kind of training program gets you in shape to run that race. Well it's the same thing here if we decide that we want to race to the top of the world economy instead of racing for the bottom of the world economy we have to figure out what kind of training program is needed and when and we are ready you know invest in education invest in job training invest in school to work invest

in these partnerships and give people the skills they need to hold down the jobs. But it takes bipartisanship. It takes investment. It takes a decision to make it a priority within the balanced budget. Let me. Is there any. Let's see. I know I want to emphasize another partner in this process and that is organized labor. Labor unions have been and will be critical to successful partnerships in supporting quality training. I'd like to ask somebody here to describe the role that unions can play in this process. Is there somebody. Yes sir. Bring him the microphone here and tell us tell us your name. Hi my name is D-NC Hussein and I'm a business manager for the carpenters union and at 9 0 9 this morning my pager went poof. And here I am now this.

This. Seems to be a recurring forestieri. Coming from the building trades. We've been involved in training workers for 15 years. Our plans. Negotiated through the collective bargaining process. We do also have retraining for our membership as new technologies come into the construction industry. To give you an example how our. Training Program. Is. Out there that want to work outside and as you. Plans to expand they need people to build them and that's where we come in and graduate from high school can get into our training program do a four year

four year apprenticeship program that is funded jointly through the union and the contractors. No cost to the individual through the whole four year program. We will teach them the craft that they sold the XY whether it be electrician carpenter or plumber I work or so forth. They will we've made provisions at least the carpenter I have and some of the other traits have knowing that a young people having great family families in the evenings and stuff we have shifted our schooling from nights through a partnership with that contractors whether the contractors let the individual students leave work twice a year for two weeks at a time to do the classroom during this time we pay them a stipend for their food. If they live more than an hour away from the class classroom which is up in Dover we will house them at no cost to them and we do this twice a year and it's a four year program or 160

hours in a classroom two thousand hours on a job. And I'd like to thank the commission because that apartment of labor we've worked through the apprenticeship Council and they've helped us and guide us even make our programs better and I'm sure we've given them some advice and it's really worked well for us. And this is at no cost and there's no age limits on this. If you've been working in a factory 40 years you want to get outside Come see us. We also do a tech job. Technology hits the construction industry. We have retraining for our journeymen. At no cost to them. And again we do that. You know being a business we're in a lot of time in a winter. The is a little slow so we'll run training programs you know during a week we'll do night programs. And for right right now everybody's out straight. Thank you Governor. Well

all weekend and you know what we try to fit whatever needs to be done. We've also got involved in school the work. And since you might be this morning now Judy Alya I want to let you give a little bit of what we're doing now. And thank you very much. And before you go. Thank you. Before you talk I did want to I wanted to thank you and I wanted to emphasize the point that a lot of labor unions have taken leadership roles in emphasizing the need for education and training. You spell it out very well but in some ways it's the same thing that she was talking about earlier you got to get over the inertia and the individual labor union member may not do it on his own or her own. But if the union says look this can benefit you it can help you throughout your lifetime than that that really gets it going. You know you want to add to this.

Yeah. I just. Tell us your name. My name is Judy coordinator for the New Hampshire school to work out which program I want to say that we're really really proud to be a partner in the school to work in New Hampshire. And there are several reasons why. Unions are really central part in the first place. We have links to front line union workers with the skills that are needed to become mentors and coaches to students and work based learning and that's very important in the second place. Nobody cares more about safety on the job and safety training than unions and through our cash program we can offer safety training to new workers. I also have to say that for workers to take the lead into investing in greater training they need to be assured that that training will lead to secure high wage high benefit employment. Unions are there to assure that that's going to happen. One other particular example that I'd like to give you in terms of

something that we're especially proud of is the partnership between IBEW and Bell Atlantic to provide on the job training. I think there may be someone here from that program. And also to say that now central New Hampshire school the partnership the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are putting together a telecommunication telecommunications partnership and we're real proud of that. Great. Thank you for what. They handed me a note a few minutes ago saying that we've run over time and I know that there are other people who would like to talk and I had wanted to call on some more businesses that are taking advantage of this program but I hope that those who wanted to talk will forgive me because we have run out of time and I'd like to just say a few words in closing and Governor before I do it. Are there any final comments you would like to make. Like.

OK let's just say. We're in a new economy. We're about to be in the 21st century. A lot of things have changed and some things are still changing the nature of work is being transformed by the new technologies that are in every workplace. Now our comp our. Ability to compete in the world economy is changing as we prepare ourselves to compete more effectively. There is one secret that can make all the difference between winning and losing in the 21st century. And it is whether or not we as a nation are willing to make the commitment and devote the resources to lifelong learning investments and high quality education and job training and the building of the

partnerships necessary between educational institutions individual employees business and labor and communities in order to make it happen. We can see here in New Hampshire and right here in this wonderful company. Examples of success under way. We know the formula but we have to decide that it is a priority for us. That's why I was pleased to announce the new funding that is available under these programs and the new studies that show how many people will benefit. Here in New Hampshire from the Lifetime Learning tax credit 52000. That's why we're excited at the announcement that Stephanie's going to be heading up our national school to work program. And that's why it is important. That all of you who agree with the point of view I've expressed here on the importance of education. And the point of view. Governor Shaheen has put forward on the importance of education. If

you do agree with that point of view it's important for you to help in this national debate over whether or not we are going to make it a priority. The Congress is voting on it right now in these next few weeks and months. They're headed down the wrong road. There's still time for them to do a little lifetime learning and change their attitudes toward the importance of education and I hope and expect that they will. But in the meantime we're going to keep moving forward with more investments in lifetime learning lifelong learning in Hope Scholarships and better job training and the kind of partnerships that can make all the difference for all of you who have participated in this discussion this morning. I'd like to express my thanks and to INSIGHT. I'd like to thank you for hosting this. And let's get the job done. Thank you all very well. Be.

The. Same. See. I. Can. See. Him. There. I'm sure to continue the kinds of. Exciting things that are going to arrive here so that.

People. Stay. In business and stay in. A better life. So. You. Have. Been. Arrested. Obviously a lot is being made. This. Year. 2000. What are your observations and what sorts of communication is the best person to make with you. Well you know now many here today. As. Bad. As. Everybody here was focused on the reason. Is. Really. Just to raise the awareness about the importance of. Being. Something we've seen. Here. At the state level. So. A message. Is. A. Continuing Debate. I hope it. Ends soon. And I hope it ends with the realization that. This is. The way. Things. Are going. Thanks a lot. Yes. We got you guys that. We could get. You guys to get. To know. Were. You. Never. Sit down for.

Your. Career. To flourish. We. Always. We do. Are you. The most daring here. You can go. Get machine. That. The primary season is underway. Still two years away we see a lot of.

People. Moving through the state. What are your thoughts on how things are shaping up. And what's going on. These candidates right now. Well certainly we've had a lot of people coming through New Hampshire. We think that's helpful. To the state. The more we can make national leaders aware of what the issues are here and. Get their help in. Addressing problems in the state the happier we are. And you welcome all of them with open arms. We do because we think it's good for New Hampshire certainly having the vice president here today to talk about the importance of investing in education. Is of tremendous benefit. It's an issue that we've been struggling with in the state. It's something I'm very committed to and to. Have this kind of visibility on the issue and talking to people in the state about what's going on is very helpful. You've done so many campaigns yourself. Before you were an elected official. What's going on with these campaigns now are they trying to get to the party activists on their side. Are they trying to raise money. What's going on. Two years prior to the election.

I think it's pretty early for people to be doing that sort of thing. I think most people here are here to help us with the election here in 98 and. We're interested. In the kind of support they can provide to people in New Hampshire. Obviously they're all looking for your support two years down the line. That's something that you pulled off on to the last minute. I'm working very hard to try and get re-elected in 98 and I'm very happy for any help I get in that effort. Now. I'm. Looking at. This. I even had. Two contested sides. In a primary. How long. Have. You. Been since. It's. Probably been 76. When. We had Gerald Ford as. A combat veteran who wasn't elected in combat. So. That's probably the last time. Apparently this year. In. Year 2000 is. More exciting than ever kind of thing. I certainly think that there will be a lot of interest on both sides.

For. Being. With. Us. When. You. See the. Problem. Is. I think one of the things that. An event like today once and. For everybody for business for people in education for the average person out there who's trying to work to get ahead is the importance of education in helping them do that. And. It underlines again for all of us in New Hampshire why it's so important to invest in education and to make sure that. All the children in New Hampshire have opportunity for. The best education we can

provide