In this international competition. older industrial societies will find themselves in direct competition with the second-. third-. and even fourthworld societies that may have skipped industrialization altogether. We can choose either to compete with cheap labor worldwide and guarantee a decline in living standards here. or we can ensure that our work force has the highskill. sophisticated productivity that will command a living wage in this global economy. It was very interesting to me that during the recent debate about immigration. some of the most influential voices against restricting legal immigration came from Silicon Valley and the hightechnology business community: They argued there was a shortage of American workers trained for their work. and they would be unable to maintain their competitive position if limited in the option of importing talent. so the need to educate our work force. as a society and a country. has never been more important. And so we are faced with a challenge of more monumental proportions than ever before. President Clinton recently referred to education as central to our national security.
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immigration