SAS CEO discusses economy, education at Milken Institute Global Conference

Jim Goodnight: Integrating technology with innovative teaching prepares students to drive economic engine

CARY, NC  (May 01, 2009)  –  SAS CEO Jim Goodnight participated in a plenary panel on US growth and chaired a panel on technology in education this week at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. More than 3,000 attendees heard how private and public sectors can work together to stem the economic crisis and address social issues.

When will growth resume in the US?

Led by Steve Forbes, the plenary panel featured Michael Boskin, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and T.M. Friedman Professor of Economics, Stanford University; Douglas Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office; and Michael Miles, President and COO of Staples Inc.

The panel touched on economic issues, including credit availability, the impact of stimulus dollars, healthcare reform, a cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions, managing risk in financial institutions and protectionism.

When Forbes noted that 64 percent of SAS’ revenue comes from outside the US, Goodnight paraphrased Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaking at the World Economic Forum: “Protectionism is like taking a drug - you feel really good at first, but that’s followed by lots of depression.” Goodnight said that trade barriers pose a long-term threat to business and economies.

Miles said: “The crisis is back to a garden-variety recession. We are seeing signs of stabilization and recovery. Small businesses have been hard hit but they will be one of the key constituents that will lead us back.” Miles also speculated that small businesses would recover before large B2B companies.

Goodnight remarked, “Large firms are looking inward during the downturn, trying to figure out how to optimize their businesses.” He cited retail as an example where companies are looking for price, inventory and supply chain optimization.

Technology plus education builds competitiveness

For the panel, “Infusing Technology into Education for Economic Competitiveness,” Goodnight assembled experts from across the country: L. Michael Golden, Corporate Vice President, Education, Microsoft; Glenn Kleiman, Executive Director, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation; Keith Krueger, CEO, Consortium on School Networking; and Bette Manchester, Executive Director, Maine International Center for Digital Learning.  

Goodnight noted that American competitiveness depends on innovation, which is achievable with an educated work force. He said the dropout rate of nearly one-third of high school students also poses a great threat to the US economy. He highlighted several issues plaguing education:

• Lack of 21^st-century classrooms with one-to-one computing and strategies that will engage the most “wired” generation in history, growing up with cell phones, computer games and iPods.
• Lack of professional development to help teachers understand how to infuse technology into their instruction.
• An alarming downward trend of students interested in science, technology, engineering and math subjects.

While business has evolved over the last century, the “education ecology” has not. Kleiman said, “We still have a classroom designed around industrial age ideas. Kids are in rows and columns listening to a teacher. It’s almost an assembly line model. Introducing technology into schools gives students tremendous power to access information, to create, to collaborate, to go beyond the school’s walls.”

The panel agreed that integrating technology with innovative teaching methods will help prepare students for 21st-century problem solving and innovation, traits that have historically driven the US economic engine.

To view the panel discussions, visit these links on the Milken Institute Web site: “US Overview: When Will Growth Resume?” and “Infusing Technology into Education for Economic Competitiveness.”

About SAS

Back to Recent SAS Press Releases

Copyright © SAS Institute Inc. All Rights Reserved.