2008 Woodie Awards
Cultural, economic shifts require educational leadership, sociology professor says
Convocation welcomes back district employees for new academic year.
By Regis L. Roberts
Issue date: 6/30/08 Section: News
Originally published: 8/20/08 at 4:44 PM CSTLast update: 9/4/08 at 2:08 PM CST
Colleges, not federal, state or local governments, will be equipped to tackle demographic and cultural changes that will create a shift in educational institutions and the workforce, a sociology professor and research consultant said Monday.
Dr. Richard Lewis, professor of sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio and president of Round Top Consulting Associates, a social science research firm he founded, addressed a full house in the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts Center as part of Convocation 2008, a presentation to kick of the academic year.
"I think that the next 30 to 40 years are going to be the most dramatic kinds of demographic and cultural changes that will ever be witnessed in a society," Lewis told faculty from the district's five colleges. "It will change in the blink of an eye, right before our eyes."
The United States will see ethnic minorities become a majority and more people will be in the workforce who do not have even a high school diploma or GED, he said.
This growing trend, which he called disturbing, shows a projection that, by 2040, 30.1 percent of the Texas labor force will have no high school diploma, compared with 18.8 percent in 2000. Every other level of education, from high school graduate, some college, bachelor's degree, graduate school and doctorate, will decrease in 2040 compared with 2000.
He also said that the gap in educational achievement for minorities has not improved much. For Hispanics 25 years and older, more than 50 percent have less than a high school diploma with fewer than 20 percent of Hispanics in this age group having some college and 10 percent receiving a college degree.
He said the U.S. economy will become more service-oriented, which will create problems keeping America competitive in the world economy.
"We have a 20-year window to get serious," he said. "Now let me tell you who's not going to do it: The federal government's not going to do it; the state government is not going to do it; local government is not going to do it.
Dr. Richard Lewis, professor of sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio and president of Round Top Consulting Associates, a social science research firm he founded, addressed a full house in the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts Center as part of Convocation 2008, a presentation to kick of the academic year.
"I think that the next 30 to 40 years are going to be the most dramatic kinds of demographic and cultural changes that will ever be witnessed in a society," Lewis told faculty from the district's five colleges. "It will change in the blink of an eye, right before our eyes."
The United States will see ethnic minorities become a majority and more people will be in the workforce who do not have even a high school diploma or GED, he said.
This growing trend, which he called disturbing, shows a projection that, by 2040, 30.1 percent of the Texas labor force will have no high school diploma, compared with 18.8 percent in 2000. Every other level of education, from high school graduate, some college, bachelor's degree, graduate school and doctorate, will decrease in 2040 compared with 2000.
He also said that the gap in educational achievement for minorities has not improved much. For Hispanics 25 years and older, more than 50 percent have less than a high school diploma with fewer than 20 percent of Hispanics in this age group having some college and 10 percent receiving a college degree.
He said the U.S. economy will become more service-oriented, which will create problems keeping America competitive in the world economy.
"We have a 20-year window to get serious," he said. "Now let me tell you who's not going to do it: The federal government's not going to do it; the state government is not going to do it; local government is not going to do it.
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