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62 SMT Magazine • September 2016 about educational policy, both public and pri- vate? That brings us to this month's topic: The in- teraction between employers in the private sec- tor world and recent graduates who have been educated in the academic world. Prior Jump- ing off the Bandwagon columns over the last five months have addressed the issues that have plagued our industry as it had been forced to underwrite the cost of closing the ever-widen- ing gap between academic preparation and in- dustry need. As civilization has developed, the role of ed- ucation for the individual has changed in its ob- jectives—from the elitist position that the educa- tion of the masses is dangerous to the civil order, to the need to create an environment of total ac- ademic freedom, to education being recognized as a key element necessary to safeguard the free- dom of a republic's citizenry. The current state of higher education has been morphed into a re- strictive, politically correct environment where free speech is protected as long as it is the cor- rect free speech—free of micro-aggressions and political incorrectness. Education is life itself (John Dewey). As early as the 1920s and 30s the philosopher/educator John Dewey proposed rethinking what he saw as a restrictive education system. He suggested that learning should be a process based on stu - dents experiencing the challenges associated with the real world. Challenge everything Jefferson said: Ques- tion with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-fold- ed fear. (Source: 1787 Letter from Thomas Jeffer- son to his Nephew Peter Carr.) The Socratic method suggests that truth is arrived at by asking questions. It is essential that in democratic-based gov- ernments individuals come to their own conclu- sions about what people they should permit to lead them. In addition, deciding what they will allow those leaders to do. This was a primary goal of education. So at least in theory, an objective of aca- demia consistent with the freedom of speech clause of the first amendment of the federal con- stitution, is the need to protect the academic freedom that comes with creating an education- al environment that encourages questioning. Tenure for academic faculty members was estab- lished to guard against any action that could be taken against them if they said something that was not politically correct. Having an academic community that is protected from scrutiny and is separated from the industry for which they are preparing students has not worked. Let's test the theory. I have questioned and challenged the tradi - tional framework that academia has used to pre- pare students for a career in high tech electron- ic product assembly. The complexity and rapid rate of change in this industry has not permit- ted the academic community to properly edu- cate the student. Many in the academic community say, "This is essentially a vocational field. The details need- ed for an individual to be successful should be taught in a vocational school—not an engineer- ing school. They should be taught like we teach welding or auto mechanics." In the U.S., we continue to lose manufacturing jobs to low la- bor rate regions of the world. Most sources esti- mate five million manufacturing jobs have been lost since the year 2000. Other Jumping off the Bandwagon columns have addressed the ostensible reasons given for this. All of these reasons miss the real causes: (1) the skill sets provided to the entry-level work- force by the academic community are incom- plete, not real world based, and improperly taught; (2) the proclivity of management to staff factories with the lowest wage workers possible; and (3) an organizational structure that has very high indirect and overhead costs that must be absorbed. This causes labor sell rates to be great- ly inflated with non-value added costs. THE CHILD IS FATHER OF THE MAN " The Socratic method suggests that truth is arrived at by asking questions. "