GREGOIRE’S WARNINGS ON CHINA, EDUCATION NEED TO BE HEEDED

Centralia Chronicle, WA
April 24 2006

In her address last week at a meeting of the Chehalis Rotary Club,
Gov. Chris Gregoire had some words of warning about education we
should heed.

Gregoire is big on improving education in this state, from preschool
to post-graduate.

In discussing early childhood education, for which she is an ardent
advocate, Gregoire told a story. When she was a child, she said,
her mother used to tell her to clean up her plate because children
in China were starving (for some of us, it was starving Armenians or
others). The lesson was that we shouldn’t be wasting when others were
starving and by us not wasting there would be more for them.

But now the focus has changed, Gregoire said. “The story today is,
‘If you don’t do your homework, that child in China will get your job,’
” Gregoire may well be right.

China, which remains the most populous country in the world, is
coming on strong as an economic competitor, its economy growing by
leaps and bounds.

Leveling the trading playing field with China will help create new
markets for our goods there, as Gregoire was striving to achieve
for this state in a recent trade mission to that country. Further
opening of the Chinese market will in turn create more jobs in the
United States.

But with education levels and skilled work forces increasing in China
and Asia, more jobs and potential jobs in this country will flow there
if we don’t bolster education in this country so that we can compete.

That’s why efforts to raise education standards, including this
state’s Assessment of Student Learning testing that Gregoire also
strongly supports, is so important.

On another subject, the governor indicated she is well aware of the
magnitude of the methamphetamine drug problem in our area and the
state. She noted meth is particularly insidious and dangerous because
“unlike any other drug, we do not have the ability to get people
off” it.

In connection with that, she mentioned a disturbing trend in meth
that many may not be aware of – an increased tendency of women to use
the drug as a dietary aid. That is insanity. Once they are hooked on
this highly addictive drug, the number of people who can get off it
permanently is abysmally low.

SATSOP PLAN: Also when she was here last week, Gregoire embraced a
plan to convert the abandoned Satsop nuclear power plant project near
Elma to a job training facility that could be operated by Centralia
College. Gregoire toured the college’s Center of Excellence for
Energy Technology.

In a presentation to the governor, Barbara Hins-Turner, executive
director of the center, said the energy industry will need thousands
of replacement workers as baby boomers start to retire in the next
five to eight years. Hins-Turner has been working with both industry
leaders and labor representatives in the region on a plan to convert
the 1,800-acre Satsop site into a training facility for future
employees in the power generation field. That would be fitting.

Gregoire said the plan “sounds like it has a lot of promise. … The
whole region will benefit” from Satsop as a job training site.

The energy industry has been aware of the declining work force
for years and “The cold, hard truth is that we’re going to suffer
a tremendous brain drain,” said Steve Milistefr, a representative
of the Bonneville Power Administration who was at the college with
Gregoire. He also lauded the college for its efforts to provide more
trained workers to fill the gap.

“Centralia College is starting to put some action behind this, and
things are starting to happen.”

Jim Walton, president of the college, said he hopes to have a Satsop
job training facility operational in two years, including on-site
dormitories.

He commended Gregoire for her interest, noting that support at her
level of government adds impetus to the Satsop plans.

In the end, then, it appears something positive will come out of the
costly boondoggle of trying to build nuclear power plants at Satsop.

Who knows, some day employees might be trained there for jobs at
nuclear power plants, which this country will likely need more of at
some point to become more energy independent.