PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY FOR MINNESOTA SCHOOLS (ECONOMY, WORK, DEMOCRACY, SKILLS)

Leaders in government, business and industry, and education influence state legislation, the employment arena and the educational process. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of forty-five influential Minnesota leaders on issues related to education and the economy.;The first conclusion of this study was that our society is rapidly approaching a juncture, defined as a point of time made critical or important by circumstances; a serious state of affairs; crisis. The second conclusion was the need for leadership. The data revealed a need to surface the issues and expand the public consciousness, a reluctance to have the federal government involved, and a void in recognized leadership at the state level. The third conclusion was the need to focus on and support research and development in all related areas. The fourth conclusion focused on the system of education and stressed the need to understand and articulate the forces of change that impact the system of education and require new processes, programs and emphasis.;Specific recommendations included the establishment of a think tank. The objectives would be to raise the public consciousness of the issues involved and to serve as a visible signal of commitment, cooperation and community effort among the three sectors. Two possible products emphasizing research and development would be the establishment of a K-12 Lab School at the University of Minnesota, and an emphasis at the post-secondary level on needs with corresponding efforts to coordinate studies and resources.;Responses to interview and survey questions, a demographic questionnaire, and the field notes of the researcher formed the data base. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to compare and contrast the collective responses of the groups. Significant statistical group differences were found on nine issues including the scale score correspondence of current programs and needs. Discriminant analysis of ANOVAS revealed the background variable of engineer was significant on six of eight issues.