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TODAY'S
ISSUE
Technical college readies
one for 21st Century opportunities
By
Michael F. Vollmer
Commissioner, Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education
Special to GwinnettForum.com
MARCH 11, 2005 -- Not long ago, if you mentioned technical education
to someone, they would have had an image of a student learning a
simple, routine trade, usually something involving grease and a
wrench.
Today, however, that image could not be further from reality. The
programs that have been developed in our technical colleges in recent
years have made that old stereotype as quaint and out-dated as black-and-white
silent movies.
The old "shop class" is a thing of the past: today, the
students at Georgia's technical colleges are mastering sophisticated
disciplines, studying in modern, fully equipped classrooms and training
in state-of-the-art labs. In the 21st century, Georgia's technical
colleges have become a central part of our state's educational system,
and are critical to its economic development. Our system will be
responsible for building Georgia's future workforce.
You can see these dramatic changes that have taken place by visiting
the campus of your local technical college. The new buildings at
Gwinnett Technical College, for example, reflect the investment
the state has made in our system. In Gwinnett Tech's classrooms,
state-of-the-art equipment gives students hands-on experience in
any of dozens of high-demand programs. And, more than likely, a
Gwinnett Tech graduate has helped make your life in Lawrenceville,
Lilburn, Norcross, Duluth, Snellville or Buford, better by providing
you with healthcare services, support for your computer network,
or even interior design advice for your home.
Michael F. Vollmer, commissioner, Georgia Department of Technical
and Adult Education (DTAE), provided an overview of the role
technical colleges will be playing in the state¹s educational
infrastructure during a recent Community Forum at Gwinnett Technical
College. |
In addition, our technical college system has evolved to become
an important part of our state's ability to attract industry and
grow jobs. Since I became commissioner of the Department of Technical
and Adult Education last fall, we have begun aggressively promoting
a pro-active approach to addressing Georgia's workforce training
needs. We know that different regions of our state need different
skill sets, so our colleges are developing programs to respond directly
to those needs.
Working with Governor Perdue's Commission for a New Georgia, strategic
industries are being identified that will expand Georgia's job base
and prosper in our communities. As we adapt our colleges to support
these growing industries - heath care, transportation, life sciences,
agriculture, aerospace, energy - we will be able to ensure that
Georgians will be able to get the training they will need for the
21st century workplace.
Also, our colleges are intimately engaged in their communities.
Not only do our faculty and staff participate in everything from
blood drives to church socials to United Way campaigns, but they
work hand-in-hand with area businesses to make sure their employees
get the up-to-date training they need so that those businesses can
stay competitive in today's global marketplace and keep their jobs
in Georgia. And we are making an even greater effort to develop
programs to support the new high-tech manufacturing that is part
of the bedrock of our economy and lifestyle.
Perhaps most important, though, is the impact our colleges can
have on the generation that right now is preparing to enter the
marketplace. The opportunities available at our technical colleges
need to become part of the everyday conversations these young people
have among themselves when they talk about their dreams and aspirations.
The option to attend a technical college needs to be on the table
when you discuss career choices with your children. By making our
middle and high school students aware that good, well-paying careers
are waiting for them after studying at a technical college, we can
increase their sense of confidence and hope, tap into their potential,
and inspire them to stay in school. We hope to capture their interest
through our programs in many high schools and instill them with
the confidence they need to persevere and build a successful career.
It is through all these avenues that our technical college system
is helping to build a better Georgia. Visit our technical colleges
and what you'll find there won't be the old trade-school stereotype,
but the key to Georgia's prosperous future, and the economic engine
of our state.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
Internet
like moonshine: You have to trust your bootlegger
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
MARCH 11, 2005 -- When in Gwinnett last year as part of the "Gwinnett
Reads" program, novelist Clyde Edgerton's band performed, in
one of their offerings, an old song called "Rank Strangers."
We thought of that recently in connection with the credibility
of what you see on the Internet. Many of the people posting material
on the Internet are "Rank Strangers" to truth, facts,
ethics or the craft of journalism. You must be wary of them.
Unfortunately, many people who read material on the Internet take
what they find there as factual, when in many cases, it is not.
Will Rogers is credited with saying, "All I know is what I
read in the papers." This may be still perhaps valid, since
newspapers in general confirm facts. All you read on the Internet
can't be put in the same category.
It's a matter of credibility. Newspapers and magazine and book
publishers check and double-check material, usually requiring several
sources to verify materials. After all, if not true, they can find
themselves in a law suit. Most journalists are also trained to be
skeptics, and know they can't automatically report matters without
verification. Too, once trained, many journalists seem to have something
of a sixth sense, and recognize when it's time to dig deeper into
matters.
That is certainly not the case with many who post material at different
sites on the Internet. That makes it more necessary than usual to
question the credibility of the Internet source. If it's a recognized
journalistic media, such as a newspaper or radio or television station
news report, that's one level of credibility. If it's a someone
mouthing off on a talk show, or someone's internet site or blog
site, that's another matter.
Posting material on the Internet is also relatively inexpensive.
Anyone can put up material on their own sites relatively cheaply.
But unfortunately, when they put up on the sites untruths, or downright
lies, few of them get taken into court and sued, for after all,
many of these sites have little in resources to challenge in a suit.
They have little to lose, compared to major media, who could be
crippled by the courts for publishing falsehoods.
This particular site, GwinnettForum, gets material submitted from
people trying to get information to you. We check out everyone.
We call this a "moderated" site, in that material cannot
be posted automatically to it, but must get past the editor, who
is a trained journalist.
The Internet has allowed a new detection tool. When we get letters
that sound a little too professional or slanted, we have a new way
of checking them out. We take portions of the letter and "Google"
them. We put a part of the letter into Google. Often we learn that
this particular letter has appeared in hundreds or sometimes thousands
of other publications in that exact order of words!
Now you tell me: what are the chances that this particular letter
writer had this as their original thought, in that same word order
for sentences on end? You see why we reject some letters, often
the product of a boiler-room production, sent to people to try to
sneak that idea as theirs past editors. Thank goodness for the Internet's
Google in giving us a new tool to question material!
When it comes to trusting information on the Internet, it's not
unlike someone suggested earlier in this century: "You've got
to know your bootlegger."
Makes sense in buying moonshine. You certainly would not buy from
a "Rank Stranger."
Makes sense in allowing something to get inside your mind, too.
ABOUT OUR SPONSORS
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public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com
to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is Barbara Grastat,
specializing in the sale and purchase of both new and re-sale homes
for over 21 years. She may be reached at her office in Duluth at
678 318 1190 or via the Internet at barbaragrastat@remax.net.
For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: http://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm.
McLEMORE'S
WORLD
3/11: Piggy banks needed more than ever
Another great cartoon from Bill McLemore:
CALENDAR
Forum Tuesday to spotlight future of digital
entertainment
A discussion of the future of digital entertainment will take place
at the Gwinnett Technology Forum on Tuesday, March 15, at 7 a.m.
It will be in an address by Chris Klaus, founder and CEO of Klaus
Entertainment, and also founder and chief security adviser of ISS.
It will be at the Busbee Center of Gwinnett Technical College,
and is sponsored by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.
Sierra Club in Gwinnett
to hear wildflower photographers
The Greater Gwinnett Group of the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra
Club holds monthly meetings on the March 17 at the Willowrun CondominiumClubhouse,
located at 1015 Country Court, Lawrenceville, about one mile north
of Pleasant Hill Road. The program will start at 7:30 p.m. Meetings
are open and not limited to Sierra Club members
Hugh and Carol Nourse, volunteers for the Georgia Botantical Society
from Athens, will make a presentation on "Wildflowers of Georgia."
They are nature photographers and have an extensive wildflower slide
presentation. They have a wide knowledge of the wildflowers of Georgia.
They have written books about Georgia wildflowers and have published
in national nature-related magazines.
For more information on the Gwinnett Group of the Sierra Club or
for more detailed directions to meetings, visit http://georgia.sierraclub.org/gwinnett/.
State Attorney General
to speak at Chamber March 23
Speaking at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce at our General Membership
Luncheon on March 23 will be Thurbert Baker, attorney general for
the State of Georgia.
The luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m at the 1818 Club. Registration
is requested by March 18th. The cost is $35 for members and $45
for non-members
Dinner April 2 will honor "two Davids" from Snellville
A tribute dinner honoring Snellville's David Greene and Davey Pollack
is set for Saturday, April 2 at the Tommy Hughes' Ballroom at the
Gwinnett Civic Center. The event proceeds will benefit charities
of the two graduating local football stars at the University of
Georgia.
David Snell, vice president of E.R. Snell Contractor Inc., in Snellville,
said of the event: "It is going to be a great event honoring
two fine young men. Whether you are a Bulldog or a Yellow Jacket,
you have to be proud of the way these two scholar athletes have
conducted themselves over the past four years. They have been wonderful
ambassadors for the University, the state, and our county.
"This is an opportunity to say thanks for all the memories
and give them a rousing sendoff on their professional careers. I
know both of these young men and their parents and can say without
hesitation they both have maintained their egos and good names in
spite of their fame. David and Davey have chosen the charities that
will benefit from this dinner, so sign up for what should be a great
evening."
Loren Smith has coordinated the planning of the event. It will
start with a private reception for sponsors at 5:30 and gala at
7 p.m. For information on the dinner, call Hoyt Stancil at 678-858
3237 or email to dsnell@ersnell.com.
RECOMMENDED
READ
- An invitation: What Web sites or books have you enjoyed?
Send us your best recent read along with a short paragraph as
to why you liked it, plus what book you plan to read next. --eeb
ENCYCLOPEDIA
TIDBIT
3/11: Fox Theatre support
system seldom considered by visitors
The "Fabulous" Fox Theatre, an awe-inspiring brick structure
of mixed architectural motifs, has towered over the corner of Peachtree
Street at Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta since 1929. Its unique
cream- and buff-colored ribbons, arched doorways, minarets, and
domes all combine to make the Fox an architectural illusion-lending
it the appearance of a cluster of small buildings. In reality, the
Fox is one cohesive building, broken up by balconies and stairways
leading to various zones of the theater, which occupies the larger
part of a midtown city block.
 But
audiences can't see the Theatre's support system.
Audiences enthusiastically applaud the pièce de résistance
of the theater, the Möller Deluxe 42-rank pipe organ console
(affectionately called "Mighty Mo" by longtime Fox-goers)
rising out of the orchestra pit. What they can't see, however, is
the organ's 3,622 pipes hidden behind two trefoil arches supported
by faux balcony boxes-all designed to blend with the Moorish theme.
In addition to the organ's pipe collection, the Möller also
boasts dozens of sound effects, including songbirds, sirens, a Ford
horn, chimes, cymbals, and a locomotive whistle.
In addition, the Fox has a large freight elevator, a separate screening
room, a broadcasting studio, a central vacuum system, and showers
in its seven floors of backstage dressing rooms. It also has a clinic
equipped with a hospital bed, an automatic sterilizer, and supplies
to handle everything from a bruise to a broken leg.
Deep beneath the stage, the Fox seems even more massive and mysterious.
A morass of boilers, fans, pipes, and ducts control the climate
within the vast complex. The basement is a winding maze of corridors,
passageways, and rehearsal rooms. Three distinct electric lines
enter the main power room on the lowest level of the theater and
furnish enough electricity to light a medium-sized city. An emergency
generator assures that if all else fails, the emergency lighting
system at the Fox will remain on. Until recently, the backstage
walls were scratched with the names of New York City streets and
avenues-a necessity for the language-diverse Metropolitan Opera
cast who, through this ingenious system of "street signs,"
could quickly find the stage entrance in this underground labyrinth.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Views from a quiet
spiritual leader of India
"Good government is no substitute for self government."
-- Mahatma Gandhi, (1869-1948) via Steve McElroy, Duluth.
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