This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.thedailytimes.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.
Article published Feb 24, 2008 Chairman of Economic Development Board puts education under microscope in book
By Matthew Stewart of The Daily Times Staff
For years, your parents probably used to tell you how important getting an education was. Now they have the evidence to back it up.
Dr. Matt Murray, chairman of the Economic Development Board of Blount County, said he directed a “cast of thousands” to create a book — “Education Crossroads” — detailing the economic and social benefits of education. Murray, who also serves as the associate director of the Center for Business & Economic Research and is a professor of economics at the University of Tennessee, said Thursday “the evidence is overwhelmingly compelling as to how education affects our lives and those around us.”
If people pursue further education, everyone will benefit from it, he said. Therefore, “communities have to raise the expectations of education because it is one of the strongest assets we have,” Murray said. If there isn’t a “lion share of community support, we will see our assets and foundation erode,” he said.
The preface to “Education Crossroads” seeks to provide motivation with the threats and opportunities currently facing the nation, including globalization and outsourcing, Murray said. “We could view these as threats, and in some ways they are,” he said. The rest of the book examines the benefits that family members, societies, businesses and communities receive from furthered education.
The 186-page, full-color book is filled with charts, graphs and maps that detail the many benefits that further education can bring. The statistics presented in the book show a better-educated workforce means greater regional prosperity. The book found labor force participation and population growth are stronger in counties where educational attainment is high. Unemployment rates are also shown to be lower in counties with residents who have taken some college courses.
“Better education leads to better awareness of how things affect (our lives),” Murray said. Better-educated people are more likely to own their own homes, have health insurance and live longer lives, he said.
“There’s a systemic problem nationwide where large populations are dropping out of high schools or dropping out of society,” he said.
Murray said he is “not so naive to think his book will change (this systemic problem), but (hopes) it will improve community expectations.” It doesn’t offer a solution to the problem because “the solution is generic ... the solution is that we need more education,” he said. The book doesn’t tell you how to pursue that, it “speaks only to the consequences of having a better- or poorer-educated community,” Murray said. “The facts speak to the way education matters and these stories (still) ring true in our own backyard,” he said.
Industry is “doing OK” in Blount County, unlike in most of the nation, Murray said, meaning Blount County is doing something right. However, “with manufacturing not growing, we need to broaden the (economic) base and diversify,” Murray said. If the economic base isn’t broadened in Blount County then we will have lost valuable opportunities for our residents, he said.
Blount County needs more professional, scientific and technical workers, Murray said.
The Economic Development Board has worked hard as of late to nurture non-industrial jobs, he said. The 450-acre research and development park in Alcoa is one way the county is trying to broaden the economic base, Murray said.
Bonny C. Millard, executive director for the Blount Education Initiative, said, “(Murray’s) book (explains) why we need further education whether it is college or specific technical training,” she said. The Blount Education Initiative’s goal is to improve education in the county. “By promoting education, one of the benefits will be economic prosperity and an improved quality of life for (our) citizens,” Millard said. “There will be a residual effect (where everything improves).”
Further information on “Education Crossroads” is available at www.educationcrossroads.com. Murray said the Web site enables people to use the information presented in the book, so a parent-teacher organization or advisor might want to use it. “It would be wonderful if they impress on students how much education will improve their lives,” he said. The Web site will evolve over time to take in more and more recent data, Murray said.