Information Technology and the North Carolina Education System

The education system in North Carolina is one of contrasts, particularly as it relates to preparing its young citizens for a career in advanced industries like information technology. While its public primary and secondary schools rate consistantly among the worst in the nation, it does boast two of the top performing urban school systems in the country.

North Carolina seems to recognize that technology training for all of its citizens is important if the state is to maintain its position as a technology center. Across its 58-campus community college system, 16,000 students are currently enrolled in computer science and engineering programs. In order to entice high-tech industries to North Carolina, the state's community college system will often offer to train the workforce free of charge for firms who locate in the state.

Additionally, North Carolina is home to nine research universities and three respected engineering schools. Three major research parks are located in close proximity to the most prominent of these academic institutions. Research Triangle Park, the largest in the U.S. lies between Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. NCSU also features a 1334-acre research campus. In Winston-Salem, Piedmont Triad Research Park is affiliated with Wake Forest University.

Education and Training: Effects on the Individual

Global IT outsourcing is threatening the high-skill, high-wage jobs that until recently seemed safe. Previously, when blue-collar manufacturing jobs were being sent overseas, it was thought that Americans could gain job security through education and a focus on technology-driven service-sector employment. Now, though, even these skills can be commodified and outsourced.

This has several important consequences. First, it is making middle class Americans aware of the effects of global outsourcing. Manufacturing workers have long been cognizant of the fact that inexpensive foreign labor is a threat to U.S. employment. Now white-collar workers must also consider international competitive forces in the labor market. Until recently, skill superiority was enough to prevent worldwide IT worker competition on wages. Now many countries, particularly India, are producing graduates that are as technologically proficient as Americans. The availability of qualified foreign labor at a lower cost is exerting downward pressure on wages for jobs remaining in the U.S.

It is through education, training and retraining that IT workers compete. Particularly in the U.S. where wages are high (and thus high productivity is demanded) only those with the most up-to-date skill sets can feel any measure of security in their jobs. This itself is fleeting, as technology can leap forward in mere months. Re-edcuation may not help workers with obsolete skills because thousands of young workers are entering the labor force with these new skills already. Aspring IT workers are also feeling the effects of outsourcing. Students who want to protect their careers against outsourcing must gamble on what types of technologies will be at the cutting-edge when they enter the workforce.

A New National Awareness

Global sourcing projects are not novelty to all Americans. The quest for inexpensive labor and less regulation has driven corporations to move operations abroad for decades. In the past, however, international outsourcing has been limited to low-skill manufacturing jobs. These workers were less educated and lower paid and, as a result, attracted much less national attention. Now, with middle class jobs being sent overseas, workers whose jobs have been threatend by or lost to outsourcing are mobilizing to protect American IT employment. Because displaced workers are highly educated, they are writing letters to the editor, lobbying elected officials and some are even running for office themselves. This has pushed issues of outsourcing to national prominence. Politicians are addressing outsourcing in their campaigns and national media outlets are increasing their coverage of the trend. On CNN, Lou Dobbs provides almost nightly updates to job losses on his "Exporting America" segment. With job losses now hitting close to home for the middle-class American, overseas sourcing is becoming a salient concern to a larger portion of the American population.