>The almost universal response is that they (business leaders) want people
to have the basic skills that anyone would want people to have -- ability to
read the newspaper, think critically and logically, do baisc mathematics,
understand the basics of the American process, and be a constructive
participant in democracy.
(End of Quote)
I have hung on to a copy of a Seattle Times report on education (December
15, 1995, Educating Our Children for a High-Tech Future). Subtitled How does
the 45-rpm generation prepare its kids for the CD-ROM age? This was an
edited transcript from a Seattle Times Roundtable comprising several Seattle
business and education leaders. A comment included in the article, from Bob
Margulis (President of Information Technology Services), says: "One of the
greatest deficits in business today is that the higher up you get, the fewer
people understand technology and how to integrate technology into their
vision of where they're taking their companies. So we need to bring people
into the workplace that understand not just technology, not just the
computer, but have a mind set of this is a tool, and how do I use this tool
to integrate into the needs of the world that I face no matter what that is,
whether it's at home or in the office."
He continues by including six skills needed by the software industry but
have nothing to do with technology.
1. Can manage knowledge and information, as well as tasks and things.
2. Can identify and manage relationships among many parts.
3. Are willing to be flexible and creative as they face new challenges.
4. Can operate effectively in a team environment.
5. Enjoy the process of learning and thrive on intellectual challenges.
6. Have versatile skills, can perform more than one job function, and are
able to accomodate a changing work environment.
This list comes from a document titled 'Interface' that the Washington
Software Association developed. Can you find anything missing from the list?
David Reed "Uh-oh" is a state of mind.
H R Strategy Development Uh-oh people seem not only to
(206)655-3245 M/S 11-40 expect suprise, they count
dpr9989@kgv1.bems.boeing.com it. --(R.Fulghum)--
--DAVID REED <DPR9989@KGV1.bems.boeing.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>