Being here with us today. Thanks, lauren. Pleasure. I go to a lot of companies, heads of hr, and other executives. They all talk about the skills shortage. And, it is not only about the one employment. This was coming up six years ago when unemployment was around 9 . So, they tell us they cant find the people that they need for the work that needs to get done. Clearly, there is some kind of a breakdown. Sometimes it is about soft skills, sometimes it is about technical skills. Can you tell us where that breakdown might be . Lauren, i think it is actually sort of acrossthe board. It really starts with k12 education. And, the fact that for too many young people, they are not beginning to think about what next until late high school. And that frankly, as i think too late. I believe we have to start exposing students as early as Early Middle School to a variety of opportunities and pathways. And giving them the opportunity to hear from and experience what some of those things might be like to give them a broader view for what might come after high school. And, high school, k12 in general is simply walled off into many ways from higher ed, from a traditional fouryear experience, or a community college, or our current technical experience. And, we need to really be intentional about taking those walls down. Taking those silos down. And for business in particular, i think there has been a giant silo between business and education for too long. And i am seeing now, many places where the communities have really come together and business and Industry Leaders are introducing themselves to educators, and vice versa, and saying, how can we Work Together to meet our longterm needs for this community . I see a lot of those kinds of partnerships popping up, and i think it is because Many Companies realize, government is not going to do it all. Or, we cant rely on the government to do this kind of training. We have got to take more of an active role in it. And, theres a lot of innovation and experimentation happening right now, which is exciting. What do you think the government can do to facilitate more of that . There are some things we can do on the margins at the federal level. I think states have a much larger role to play in this regard. But, we have advanced a few ideas that we think will help to provide young people different opportunities. Pell grants today are not available for shortterm certification or credential programs. We think that this is a good step to look at expanding those opportunities. The reauthorization of perkins five really provides states a lot of flexibility in creating new on ramps for students for career and technical. Education. And, we are encouraging that this, with the perkins five, the reauthorization, this is a really important point where, point in time where industry can come together with educators to create something new and different. That is the bill that authorizes 1. 3 billion of spending . Yes. For Technical Education . Right. I would just say that there has not been, i dont think as much not focus on, or, if the federal government is going to invest in Higher Education, there should be more focus on supporting the multitude of pathways. And recognizing that for a lot of students today, coming out of high school, the opportunities are great for a high paying, challenging career through which they can grow and advance, while not taking on a bunch of student debt. And yet, we continually talk about Fouryear College or university as the path that students should really take. The messages around that are very mixed, or confusing to parse out. On the one hand, student debt is at a record level. 1. 5 trillion right now. There are a lot of people who Start College and then drop out. And basically get nothing for that investment for the most part. On the other hand, the college premium, the amount your wages will be higher than somebody who just graduated from high school is higher than it has ever been. So, clearly there is a good reason why people think of college as the obvious next step with the best next step. But do you think there are too many young people going to college today . I think there are too many young people that are starting a Traditional College with no idea of what they really want to pursue. And they are taking on student debt. And after 1. 52 years they are dropping out and having to start over with really nothing to show for it. With 1. 5 trillion in student debt, it is an important time to take a step back and look at how we can message differently, and encourage young people to explore what they are really wired up to do much earlier on in the life. And not wait until graduating high school to say, okay, i guess the next thing for me is that Fouryear College. I have no idea what im going to do or what i want to do. But again, really winding it back, and helping students know and understand what their innate aptitudes are, and getting a good idea of what they might want to pursue, as i think, something that communities have to take responsibility for in a major way. I just visited a really interesting place in texas last week. Some very Large IndustrialConstruction Company that is not having nearly enough success in finding workers who are skilled for the jobs that they have. They have welcomed veterans. They have welcomed unemployed. A number of previously unemployed young women. One of whom had earned a Fouryear College degree and could not get hired anywhere. And, they went through a 16 week program. And now have, they are earning a great wage. They have every opportunity to continue to build on those skills and advance in this company with no end in sight in terms of what they might be able to do. And, that is just one of many places that i have seen really thinking creatively, and taking matters really into their own hands. Because, they have just not been able to get the skills they need to do the jobs they have. We are seeing Big Companies saying, we are not going to require a College Degree anymore. Google has done a. Some other big tech companies. Think firms are getting the message. But because they cannot hire if they wreak keep the requirement so high, and also because, some jobs simply dont require that kind of background and that kind of debt. I do want to ask you, given that her audience here controls the purse strings, basically, what do you think companies should be doing, what is the responsibility when it comes to figuring out how to prepare the work forces . I think it is really an opportunity. An opportunity to think differently about the kind of workers that your Company Needs today and in the future. And, to look creatively within your own community as to how you can solve the problem or meet the needs of your business both today and tomorrow. I am sure you have all heard the prediction that, of kindergartners starting this year, they will graduate from high school in 2030, and 85 of their jobs have not yet been created. So, this is a really important period of time to really approach things differently than we have before. And, i have worked with enough individuals in the financial world to understand that sometimes, that might be a little more difficult to think about and to do. But, it is, i think, a really important opportunity to work more closely with your own communities, and look at ways that you can partner with educators today. More and more educators are open to and cognizant of the fact that education fundamentally has to change. But, they need encouragement, just like i think , you can be encouraging of them to really take the steps to come together and solve those problems together. I just, i know that avoca trump has been working with a number of large employers to advance the pledge to the american worker, and today, she Just Announced that over 10 million commitments to expanding opportunities for current workers, the pledges have been made. And again, so many opportunities today, but we have to think more creatively about how to meet those needs. And, look at the development of Human Capital in the same way that we look at Capital Investment of other goods and, you know, equipment within a business. On that i want to call pull up our poll question for the audience. In the current fiscal year, my company has a made significant new investments in employee training. B kept spending about the same. And c, decreased. We will take a look back to see where the results are. We are, i recently read a story that included some statistics that i had not been aware before, which is that the u. S. , on a list of oecd countries, we are second to last in terms of our spending, Government Spending on career and continuing education. Should we be putting more money into postsecondary education, specifically for Career Training . I know we have the perk and deck. Thats 1. 3 billion. Should we be putting a lot more in . I think it is an important question for congress to wrestle with. This administration has been very supportive of really supporting the multiple pathways to a successful adult life and career. And, i think that we do need to examine where the resources are going, from the federal level. And, what messages we are sending, either overtly or, sort of subliminally, about what we value. And, we should be valuing a lot more types of opportunities than we have sent signals for in the last several decades. Certainly, Fouryear College and university is a good answer for a lot of young people. But, for a lot of them, it might not be the answer today. It might be for them, 510 years from now. We really need to, i think, embrace learning as a lifelong pursuit. Not one that is episodic and that would check off the box by the time we are 21 or 22 or a few years older with a graduate degree. I agree. Everybody talks about Lifelong Learning. But they did a educational system, is, just kind of like the way we think about this issue as a society is the idea that education is over by the time you are 25. We dont have a lot of resources for people who are continuing, you know, especially in an area where rescaling, upscaling is critical. Proving your skills in your current job, rescaling for a career change. Its critical, think about how we can encourage that and people, have companies encourage it. And how we can have policies that encourage it. Me, right now, we see this proliferation of, there is a lot of innovation in the world of education. Educational technology. We have food cams. We have Online Education platform. Nano degrees. Certificates and pretty much everything under the earth. There is linkedin learning. There are obvious places where people can get additional training. There is not a lot of oversight or standards for them. In many ways, it mirrors the forprofit education system. Where most of these companies have a profit motive. And again, there is not a lot of oversight on quality. Or standards. When i talk to employers, they dont know, they dont recognize six credentials. I dont know how to value them and its very frustrating for workers who have gotten them. So, in this wild west of situation right now. Where can government step in to help kind of manage this process of innovation or provide some oversight . I think the role of federal government is to provide, as wide a boundaries as is feasible and possible. Particularly, if federal resources are following some of these efforts. But i think it is really important to ensure the most innovation and creativity, the opportunity for it to develop appropriately. And robustly. To really let the market work to the greatest extent possible. And on the other hand, look to some of the education innovators who are having great success, as validated by the marketplace. Are they, you know, graduates of whatever degree or Certification Program getting hired . And are they advancing in their careers . Well, they should be highlighted. And more people will emulate them. Ones that are not particularly effective, probably wont be very longlived. Clearly, where federal resources are involved, there has to be appropriate boundaries, and that is, i think, an important piece. But, i think we have to, we have to allow for a lot more creativity and innovation to enter the education world. Because, we have not kept up with the rest of the world in terms of opportunity. I think we will end up at a place where there is a little more transparency. I hear a lot from workers who say, i wanted to get a degree, or i wanted to get some training in digital marketing. Its always digital marketing. It seems easier than data science. And people are familiar with marketing. So, they will google it and they will come up with the top three results, they will choose one of those programs, and sometimes theyre spending 1000, which can be tough for a lot of people. And really, have no idea whether or not they are going to get the outcome that they are looking for. I see a lot of vendors also selling directly to corporations. I think there there is a much better vetting process, hopefully. I do want to take a quick look at our poll reports. So, 50 say they have made significant new investments in employee training. 50 , keeping at about the same. And no one is decreasing their investment in training. So thats good news. It is. Be interested to know what the plan is for next year and beyond, and thats going to increase. I do think, there are some other countries that are trying very creative things. France just started a program where each worker or person of working age, is given ,500 to put toward their training. So they can either spend that or save it up for about 10 years or so. There are, you see, countries are experimenting with, how do we invest in the notion of Lifelong Learning . Exactly. And i really think that we could benefit from learning what switzerland has done, in terms of apprenticeship opportunities. I dont know if you have had any discussion about that here. But, it was really interesting for me to learn when visiting there that almost 70 of their High School Students are in some kind of apprenticeship. So, they are earning while they are still learning in high school. And, they can go on to any one of 230 different apprenticeships , as decided by the canton and businesses jointly. They are constantly dropping off apprenticeships that are no longer relevant, adding new ones. And, they have really, i think, perfected a system of lifelong education that is very permeable. Okay you can come into it and a lot of it, out of the formal education program, at any point in your life. And the notion of apprenticeship is, i think we have a pretty narrow view of it here. My view was broadened when i realized that the ceo of ubs started as an apprentice in a bank. Will, i think there are very few sec tours where earning and learning would not work in some way. And i think business can be challenged to think more broadly about how that might look in your own company. And, i know that there are companies that are informally starting these kinds of programs today. I think as there is more interest generated, there will be more opportunity to come together with his notices of similar size or scale or focus, and develops a more of these opportunities. Apprenticeship is one of those rare, bipartisan issues. Question. Question from the audience for secretary divorce. Over here. Good. Hi. Very interesting, thank you. My name is christina. Wondering what advice you would give a pending student entering the College University years. And what kind of sick joke right now applicable to that person, looking at what to do apprenticeship, school, curriculum, and terms of what the output is in the job market. I think that would depend very much on the individual. And what, you know, what he or she was interested in and pursuing. I mean, there is no end to the opportunity for the types of programs that one can pursue. And i think for a lot of young people, there is almost too many. And trying to sort through that is challenging. And i think thats another opportunity for the k 12 years is to start at a younger age to talk about what kinds of things you might actually have the innate skills to do. So i cant give you a very specific cancer, because it really would depend on the individual. Tell us a little bit about im sorry, go ahead. In terms of training, teaching the child what are the options out there. I know that there are some places that have begun to look at this more seriously. Think about a school i visited in tennessee. It was a really multifaceted career and Technical High School that had a lot of different opportunities for students who were both going to pursue a traditional fouryear experience in engineering, and or some other subject areas. But also, once in career technical. But i believe it was in eighth grade, all of the students in that high school did some kind of an aptitude test. So, they would have a better understanding of what their innate gifts and talents were, and how they might be actually developed them and what kinds of vocations would be, would line up with those aptitudes. I think a lot more schools, a lot more communities might look seriously at that. To help students know and understand at an earlier age, what are some of the things they are innately good at doing . Secretary divorce, tell us your thoughts on innovation and the role that it plays are. A businessman that i spoke with who does a lot of business in china and the United States said that he thinks the United States should staple a green card on the back of every diploma that it hands out every grad student who has come from abroad. We want them to stay here. We want their expertise here. Dont go home and compete with us. Do you by that idea . Is that a good idea . I think immigration and the future of what immigrants can bring and add to our country is of critical importance. Our president clearly believes this and thinks this as well with the most recent proposal along immigration, that deals specifically with international students. The focus has been on exceptional students. And, students coming with, and maintaining high levels of academic achievement will have, under this proposal, would have opportunity to apply before they have even graduated for green card. And, if they have, if they can demonstrate a job waiting for them when they graduate, we want them to stay here. We want them to contribute. And, i think that this is a really important policy that we should all be embracing. And the other last questions . Right here. You touched on a little bit with the previous discussion. But, does it concern you, and what is your perspective in terms of the Tipping Point we might be reaching in the u. S. Where an undergrad goes to school and spending 250,000 to get a degree, and how the u. S. Maintains competitiveness with other nations, in terms of how. Guy that has got three kids and sitting there, even. Thinking about the future and how the im going to help pay for three kids to go to school. And i genuinely think like got to a Tipping Point. I cannot agree more. And i think the cost, clearly the cost of Higher Education in the u. S. Has gone up astronomically. As it had in astronomically greater rate than the cost of anything else. And, there is lots of theories as to what has fueled that, and what the reasons are for that. But i think for students going forward, giving a lot more information about what they are buying is of critical importance. Helping them become a lot more financially literate as they enter Higher Education programs. One of the things that we are doing as we are really reforming and reframing the federal student aid platform, is to put on a on one site, the college scorecard. The Program Level data for every hire and institution. So, if you want to pursue, if you think you want to pursue this type of program, but you are considering four or five different schools, you will be able to look at how, what the cost for that program is that each of those institutions. And then also, what you are likely earning potential is. 2, 5, and 10 years out from data from those who have graduated from that program. Think this will be really Important Information for Prospective Students to have. I also think, i also know that the reforms that we are advancing around accreditation are going to afford a lot more opportunities for creativity in Higher Education. And, the more opportunity there is there, the more that ultimately, i think the price is going to be, start to come down. Because, there is going to be more, there are going to be better opportunities at lower cost, advanced as a result of some of these reforms. One last, here we go. Right here. Telesco you are. Meredith jones with amazon web services. So, having been the beneficiary, myself, of a very diverse set of educational experiences, homeschooling, public school, private school, and so forth. I see tremendous value in having diversity of educational experiences in a particular, very immersive educational experiences. So, what can we expect to see with regard to more diversity and education. Particularly in the formative years . Thats a great question. I am thrilled to be able to talk about our initiative to advance education freedom. We termed it as education freedom and particularly from k 12 students. We know that for a lot of kids, they are, everybody is assigned based on your zip code, your just where you live to your traditional public school. For too many of the students, it is not working. And yet, their families dont have the option of moving somewhere else, or paying the tuition for private school. We are advancing this notion that parent should be empowered to make those decisions. If we are spending that money on the students begin with, but parents and students take that money to a school that is going to be the right fit for them. So, the proposal is to establish a federal tax credit that individuals and corporations had voluntarily contribute to. States would decide whether they wanted to participate or not. No mandate from the federal level. Not creating a new program to administer. And, if the state did elect to participate, they would be able to create a program or programs that would empower these students ultimately, with a scholarship to choose the right fit for them. Educationally. So, i have encouraged people to think more broadly about what that could look like. Because immediately, those who are, you know, defend what is, and defend the status quo will say, it is just taking money away from public schools. But no. We think more broadly about expanding career and Technical Education opportunities for high schoolers. Expanding dual enrollment opportunities. Course choice, so that you could take a language from the finest instruct their living on the other side of the world. Or some other course that your school is not able to offer. Or, apprenticeship opportunities. Think very broadly about how we can introduce different choices and different opportunities to really fit the needs of the wide range of learning styles and needs that students have. That is a proposal that has been introduced, both in the house and the senate. Both the bills sponsors and i are working hard on gaining support for them and that initiative. We think its a really important way to advance this notion that we should have a lot more freedom in education during those k12 years. I think one must question. Way in the back here. Please. With less lexmark. Can you share adversity score. Are you referring to the fat . Yes. I think that can you tell us what that is for the general audience . And im not an expert in the sat test or anything. I think that anything that does not recognize students as individuals, and treat them on their own merit is illconceived , and it ultimately will have, well, the downstream effect is not going to be what the original idea or intention is. What i think we need to be focused on is this notion of more education freedom. So that we are not forcing all too many kids into a onesize fitsall approach in their k12 years. I think we sometimes focus solely on Higher Education. And forget about the fact that high schools yeah, 12th graders are graduating every single year. Many of whom are ill prepared to enter the workforce, or enter a Fouryear College or university or any other higher edge setting. In fact, i would be really curious how much, how many resources everyone who, the companies that you represent here, expand on essentially on remediation, or preparation that many of the student should have had after coming through 13 years of formal education. So, i believe our focus needs to be on providing more freedom and more opportunities for students at those earlier years. And ultimately, that we treat students as the individuals they are. Standardized testing, like the sat, have a role . Or is it too problematic, and should be get rid of the sat . I think, Higher Ed Institutions clearly have a wide range of measures that they look at in their admissions process. But, i think, there is a lot about education in general that needs to change. And i think we need to be open about having those conversations beginning with, particularly, the k12 years. Secretary devoss , thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Take a deep breath. Sorry my. If you dont know it already, something everybody in this room can identify with, which is an air travel disaster. Cancel fright, up and on schedule