In a July 30, 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal, reporter David Wessel writes about President Obama's plan to invest $12 billion in America's community colleges. James Jacobs, chair of the Community College Research Center Advisory Board and president of Macomb Community College--where Obama unveiled his plan on July 15--is quoted in the article.

According to Wessel:

…The notion, a hallmark of Mr. Obama's spending, is to use money to spur innovation and to devote taxpayer dollars to the most promising avenues, rather than financing old ways of doing things.

It sounds good. And no doubt community colleges could use the money: Their enrollments are rising; their budgets aren't. They remain among the most important escalators of social mobility. But a lot depends on how the colleges use the money. Taking federal money to do more of the same won't do it.

"Doing training in the absence of jobs isn't very practical," says Macomb's president, James Jacobs. "We need to play a role in job creation, which means new ways of working with the private sector."

There are examples. Mr. Jacobs's college in February launched a joint venture with Talascend LLC, a staffing firm, to teach 45 laid-off auto designers, experienced in design software, to design process piping for refineries and power plants in a six-week intensive course. The key: Talascend saw unfilled jobs in the Southwest and "good experienced people sitting around in Detroit without work," says Richard Spragg, a Talascend vice president. "There's very little point in doing training for training's sake," he says.

--Read the entire article at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124891219489791985.html  (Registration or subscription may be required.)

--Read "Obama Unveils Community College Plan at Macomb" at: http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?UID=702