The Boston Globe has done as much as anyone to hurt public higher education in Massachusetts with constant articles disparaging state supported institutions, especially the University of Massachusetts. Every article is about how UMass fails and this and that and can't keep up with anything.

The job vacancy numbers cited in this story are deeply in error. The national study cited is not an independent survey of existing unfilled job vacancies in our state as I pointed out to the author. The latest job vacancy study in Massachusetts in late 2010 showed only 70,00 unfilled jobs of which more than half were part time or part year. Over half of the vacancies required no schooling beyond the 12th grade. There are only a few occupations in high level medical and physical science and information systems in shortage. If jobs were in shortage, then real wages would be rising at an above average pace. Real wages in our state HAVE BEEN UNCHANGED OVER THE PAST DECADE. Case CLOSED. All existing evidence is no serious labor shortage at this time.PLEaSE HAVE SOMEONE WRITE THE TRUTH about this topic . tTIS ARTICLE IS TERRIBLY MISLEADING.

Whenever I see that number of 120,000 unfilled jobs thrown around I'm reminded of the scene from the 1962 version of The Manchurian Candidate. Senator John Yerkes Iselin makes the false accusation that there are a large number of Communists working in the United States governement. When pressed to give an exact number the Senator states "57". A number that he took off of a Heinz ketchup bottle. The press ran with that number too. I really miss good reporting.

Spell and write well. Shouldn't that goal be achieved in high school? Can creativity and innovation be taught, or are they the results of innate ability and growing experience? The liberal arts fields claim to be able to teach (or inspire?) creativity. I welcome them to prove that claim, which introduces the small problem of how you measure creativity. Proof of their claim will require some scientifically valid measured index of creativity for their incoming students, and the same index showing improvement after they complete their studies. But they know well this can't be done. The concept of creativity is so vague and fluffy, and they are free to make statements that cannot be falsified. And these statements are used to sell the snake oil to kids who will run up $60K to $80K debt. A few will succeed anyway (that innate ability and creativity they had before the first penny of debt). Others will try to pay of that debt by initially delivering pizzas, and someday managing a shoe dept at Walmart. Others will camp out at Occupy Boston and demand school debt forgiveness. The liberal arts departments claim they are educating students in the very fields industry needs, industry just doesn't know it. Industry has tried hiring these students, sees their shortcomings, and has offered feedback. The liberal arts programs respond by insisting their current snake oil is still the ticket. They know better than the customer. Ultimately, it isn't about knowledge OR vocation, it should be knowledge AND vocation. Most of the students who leave a liberal arts program WILL be foot soldiers of capitalism. You can teach them Shakespeare or Critical Analysis of Medieval Thumb Twiddling for their knowledge base, but also be honest, and as part of their education, truly give them the skills that are needed by the corporations. Give them the skill weapons that result in employment that will keep them out of dead end jobs. Give them the skills industry needs, not the skills you think industry needs.

Okay my robotic friend. List those industry skills that are needed today, in the next five years, and the next ten years. That can be our jumping off point in developing new training programs. Oh, let's make sure that we have guarantees from industry that once the students complete their training (at no cost to the industries) that both the companies and those jobs will still be here.