This book explains much of the low enrollment problem

I just finished reading Thomas L. Friedman's book The World is Flat. It has been on the best seller list for quite a while and you may have heard of it. I can strongly recommend it to those of you trying to understand why enrollments are low and things are as they are in technology education today. It explains alot.

Friedman is a New York Times editor. I have been reading him for a while and don't always agree with his positions but he is astute. He has put together an excellent balanced account of what is going on in the world and how it is affecting us. We all know things are changing, and faster than we want, but we sit around in our comfort zones thinking that the changes will have limited impact on us. The changes have been gradual up to now, but we are finally beginning to feel the affect these changes are having. And they are devistating in some cases. And we are not doing much to improve matters. The terms complacent and "living in denial" come to mind.

Essentially what he is saying is that because of PCs, the Internet and other technologies, the world is flatter, meaning more countries have become or are becoming more competitive with the US. Offshore manufacturing and outsourcing are only some of the changes that have hurt technology education in general It is too complex to cover in this note, but I urge you to get a copy of this book and read it. It took me several weeks to plow through it, but you will be rewarded with a better understanding of things in general. Friedman points out that a major part of the solution to the impact of globalization on the US is more and better science, math, technology and engineering education. Yet, the trends in all those areas are down in the US.

Now, how can we take this knowledge and use it to save electronic technology education?