A lot was made last night at TeamNEO’s second annual State of the Region meeting about the progress we’ve seen in the region.  Tom Waltermire and team are to be commended for being forthright and direct about both the positive and the negative changes that have taken place in our region over the past few decades.  You can get a copy of their most recent quarterly update on the state of our region by clicking here.

The two key speakers at last night’s event were Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Sandy Pianalto, and Cleveland State University’s Vice President of Economic Development Ned Hill.  While both spoke of the importance of STEM education (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) and educational attainment as keys to economic growth and prosperity, both were also very vocal in their insistence that STEM is not a panacea, and that the arts and other non-STEM education is also critical to the development of creative, innovative minds. 

Ms. Pianalto emphasized education and innovation as intimately linked and essential to regional success.  STEM is certainly a part of that, but innovation requires creativity and critical thinking as well as knowledge of advanced science, technology, engineering and mathematical skills.  And Ned Hill, in addition to stating that knowledge of calculus was a huge hurdle that was keeping many students from pursuing college degrees, also showed some intriguing data about 2-year vs. 4-year degrees in which there was not a clear correlation between a more advanced degree and regional employment, which seemed to indicate to him that the two year program need not be seen as simply a feeder system for a four year degree, but that it was also the place where many of the skills most needed in the region could be acquired.

There is another possibile explanation, though.  While calculus is and always will be important for certain degrees and professions, boolean logic is actually more important in the information age than calculus.  

It is entirely possible that where we need innovation most is in our educational system, which is still rooted in our industrial past–in order to succeed in an information-based economy, every student needs to have a fundamental understanding of how this deceptively simple mathematical system is the source of so much of the creativity and complexity that make up our world today.  It is, after all, only logical.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 12:05 pm and is filed under General Economic Development, Information and Communications Tech, Policy, Strategy, Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.