The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 06, 1982, Image 19

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    features
Battalion/Page SB
December 6, 1982
briel
ove TheToudi
j/Wollflowei
PeTOQAM
SKUHiy
Study says workers
fear skills obsolete
I THE MIGHTY
?RLD'I WANNA TEU
LLELTWC
United Press International
NEW YORK — American
orkers worry more that they
ill lose their jobs because
heir skills become obsolete
Ilian because of the recession,
lays Dr. Richard Adamsky of
emple University.
Adamsky, professor of
ocational education at the
’hiladelphia institution, also
saconsultant for ITT Educa-
ional Services, Inc., of In-
lianapolis. His conclusion
hat workers fear technologic-
il obsolesence more than the
ecession was drawn in part
iom a survey just made by the
TT vocational training sub-
idiary.
Adamsky said this survey
ndicated 81 percent of work-
rsdoubt if they have the skills
jo keep their present jobs or
find new ones. About 21 per
cent want to change careers
Jmvway, for various reasons,
Including doubts about their
present skills.
About 62 percent believe
Ihey need more specialized
jaining and 67 percent said
lieonly way to get new skills is
[o go back to school.
Adamsky and Richard H.
McClintock, president of IT T
Educational Systems, said the
proprietary vocational schools
Fthe country are trying hard
i provide the retraining
jvorkers need to remain com
petitive in the job marketplace
but choosing the right voca
tional training school from
among the hundreds offering
courses is not easy.
Adamsky conceded there
has been w idespread criticism
of vocational training prog
rams in both proprietary and
public schools for training
people in skills already
obsolescent.
Adamsky said the bottom
line in choosing a vocational
school is its record in placing
its graduates in actual employ
ment. The next best criterion,
he said, is determining if a
school is properly accredited.
One may have to go to consid
erable trouble to verify both
the placement record and
accreditation. The principal
accrediting organizations are
the National Association of
Trade and Technical Schools
and the Association of Inde
pendent Colleges and
Schools. Both are in
Washington.
But Adamsky said the best
career training is that being
done by the armed forces.
“This is so much the case that
industry is borrowing or even
pirating military training
methods.”
The same point was made
recently during a television in
terview by Narvin Cetron, au
thor of a currently popular
book entitled “Encounters
With the Future.” Several
chapters in this book are ab
out changing job skills in the
years ahead.
Cetron told United Press
International the armed
forces is doing the best at re
training workers by giving
them skills for w'hich there
really will be a future market.
Among the corporations
doing a good job in vocational
career training are Control
Data Corp. of Minneapolis
and ITT, he said.
Both Adamsky and Cetron
said the armed forces have big
advantages: a lot of money,
plenty of expertise and the
discipline and authority to
compel servicemen and
women to work hard at the
training courses. “If they goof
off,” Adamsky said, “they can
be kicked out of the service or
sent to the coldest and most
remote part of Korea.”
ITT Education Systems op
erates 22 vocational schools
and training centers across
the country. McClintock said
the survey showed that work
ers in the 18-24 age group are
the most concerned about
skills and the employment
outlook. One-quarter of those
in middle management jobs
also had similar fears.
Although the survey did
not cover high schools,
McClintock said the ITT
vocational school officials had
encountered concern among
youngsters in high school ab
out acquiring marketable
skills that will ensure them
jobs for the future.
evo
i
E
Ausic/Joy
ailing
UtV.NOAfj
Stuffies Totes
and Garment
Bag
by World Way
FREE* Stuffed Toy
with Purchase of
Tote or Garment
Bag
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SELECTION MAY VARY BY STORE.
TOTES - 22.00-33.00
GARMENT BAG - 65.00
Lightweight yet durable nylon in rich
monotone color combinations of black,
khaki and blue. Quality zippers and padd
ed loop handles with adjustable shoulder
straps.
Manor East
Mall
Bealls
Post Oak
Mall
Old-age fund in trouble
United Press International
NEW YORK — Cutting be
nefits, raising the retirement age
and increasing taxes are some
methods being proposed to re
form Social Security.
The government recently
borrowed money to pay current
benefits. Various estimates put
the amount in benefit cuts and
higher taxes needed to save the
system at $60 billion to $150 bil
lion in the coming decade.
James A. Curtis, head of Mil-
liman & Robertson, Inc., the
Seattle-based employee benefit
consulting firm, proposes:
— Medicare, disability and
other benefits not related to So
cial Security should be paid out
of federal general funds.
— Indexing or annual raising
of retirement benefits should be
reduced if not eliminated.
— Social Security should be
made universal by phasing in all
workers enrolled in other public
pension plans.
— The basic retirement age
probably should be raised.
— Persons with other sub
stantial income should be taxed
on at least part of their Social
Security retirement benefits.
Curtis’s ideas for change are
conservative compared with
those of A. Haeworth Robert
son, former chief actuary of the
Social Security Administration.
Robertson wants to continue
the present system only for the
estimated 21 percent of the
population who will be 45 or old
er by July 4. For the remaining
79 percent, he would create an
entirely new system called the
Freedom Plan, involving:
— A flat non-taxable monthly
payment, probably under $300
a month, taken from general
funds.
— A Freedom Bond program
having special government
bonds with deferred interest
payments to provide extra re
tirement income.
— A government cost-of-
living supplemental payment
for persons drawing pensions
under private plans.
Robertson would raise the re
tirement age for drawing Social
Security benefits to 70.
Robertson, vice president of
the New York management con
sulting firm, William M. Mercer
Associates, published his ideas
last year in a book, “The Coming
Revolution in Social Security.”
In it he warned if the present
plan is not drastically changed,
the average Social Security tax
collected from an individual,
which went from $30 in 1940 to
$1,587 in 1980, could rise to
$4,039 by 1990.
Adding employers’ payments
increases the 1990 figure to
$8,078 per worker, Robertson
said.
He said Social Security cost-
of-living increases for retire
ment recipients totaled 14.3 per
cent in 1980 — higher than pay
increases for most people still
working.
No matter how
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weVe got you covered
from head to toe.
We have hats f caps for your head,
including classic Irish tweeds, balaklavas t Icelandic caps.
mufflers i scarfs for your neck.
in bright 4 muted colors.
(We even have ear muFF^ 4 nose mittens.)
We have gloves mi ttens
for your cold hands.
Wool, polypropylene
leather or silk gloves
and liners.
We have
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of woven, yarn dyed cotton flannel,
chamois cloth, or 100wool . (And lent
sleeved cotton T-Shirts too )
and sweaters
for your upper
extremities,
natural 4colorfully
dyed wools , plus
100% cotton sweaters
iand warm bunting
'.pants for your
tegs. (a new, high
performance fabric)
We have
socks
for your toes
£ in 100% cotton,
| wool or sil k and
% polypropylene
We have jackets
parkas 4 vests.
of bunting, pile 3nd
prime, goose down
shoes and boots
for warm,dry feet,
k many comfortable.durable
styles for men *
women •
and bags to take it alt home
j a full line of deluxe duffels, ^
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* Choose from these and many othetfjtJS
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Whole FarVh P - oven «' 9 "
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