Posted on by Californiacontrarian

A Pledge

Why does the University of California require so much foreign language as a prerequisite to applying to a U.C. school? Why don’t they require more classes related to computers or a computer programming language instead of French or Spanish? It seems to me that jobs of the future are more likely to be related to and based on computer skills, rather than French. (In California, I suppose one could argue that Spanish would be of more importance. To that, I would respond, “Perhaps, if you work in a taco shop!”)
Have any of you heard of “Pledge to America’s Workers?” I had not heard of it either until I happened on an article from The Dallas Morning News from earlier this month. Yes, you read that right, “The Dallas Morning News!” I guess I must have missed this pro-Trump piece of good news in my local anti-Trump newspaper! FromThe Dallas Morning News: With first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump by his side, Google CEO Sundar Pichai signed a pledge Thursday in Dallas that the company will boost its investment in tech skills training for American workers.

The Silicon Valley-based company said it will create 250,000 training opportunities over the next five years and invest $3.5 million to expand one of its certification programs to 100 community colleges by the end of next year.

Google is one of more than 350 companies to join the Pledge to America’s Workers, a White House initiative that’s enlisted the private sector to help close the gap between skills companies seek in employees and those that job candidates have. The companies have committed to train more than 14 million students and workers since Trump introduced the pledge in July 2018.

There are about 7.2 million job openings in the U.S. at the end of July, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau Labor Statistics. About 6.1 million people were unemployed that month.

Google’s expanding program will certify workers for jobs in IT support. There are more than 215,000 unfilled jobs in IT support across the U.S., according to company estimates. Students can complete the web-based curriculum to qualify for those jobs in six months, depending on their pacing.

“Our goal is to make sure that the opportunities created by technology are truly available for everyone,” Pichai said.

With the certificate, they can break into the tech industry without a college degree. The median annual wage for the entry-level tech job is about $53,500, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor. Now granted $53,500 is not a salary that puts anyone in the upper echelons of income, but it’s a place to start, and it is certainly better than owing $200,000 upon graduating from college with a degree that may or may not guarantee that you will ever be able to pay back that loan.

Kudos to Sundar Pichai and Google. Kudos to Ivanka Trump and to President Trump. 

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