Judd Slivka writes for The Arizona Republic: Job training strains schools.
Enrollment has risen dramatically in 'occupational' training: "In 1996-97, there were 203,899 enrollments in occupational courses in the Maricopa system. In 2002-03, there were 275,754."
More from this article:
"The demand for training is in fields that are costly: Biotechnology requires labs, truck driving requires trucks, aerospace requires planes. For just eight weeks of truck-driving class, the cost is upwards of $2,900; the average cost of educating a full-time student preparing to transfer to a four-year university is about $4,300 a year.
The automotive program, which gets cars donated by local dealers, needs to build a place to store them. A full-time nursing faculty member could cost more than $70,000 a year in salary and benefits.
This is the cost of the knowledge economy: crowding classrooms, increased costs and administrators looking for money under the couch cushions."
K-Collector Topics: Education Knowledge Economy Writing