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In addition to the personal computer system delineated above, Kids Can't Wait will also send each school additional materials. These include, for example, the 1983-84 Sterling Swift Educational Software Directory, brochures on computer usage in schools published by the International Council for Computers in Education and Applesoft Basic Programmer's Reference Manuals. We are also very pleased to inform you that 28 of the nation's top educational software vendors have agreed to participate in our program by issuing certificates that will enable participating schools to receive substantially reduced prices on software and books. These are new products that are currently being sold by these manufacturers.

The overall success of the Kids Can't Wait Program depends upon a three-way partnership between Apple, our dealers and the participating schools. Our dealers are particularly critical to the program because they will provide the initial introductory orientation which enables a school to receive their personal computer system. Apple was very pleased to receive the support of approximately 85% of our independent California dealer base representing 140 locations.

Apple has a strong commitment to providing orientation with each Apple //e. A school will not receive its Kids Can't Wait bundle without first attending a Kids Can't Wait orientation session. It is important to understand the logistics of this program in order to understand the necessary commitment of the

manufacturers and to understand why additional training requirements, as imposed by S. 1194 and S. 1195, would make such Below is a brief sketch of our Cali

a program impractical.

fornia program.

1.

Apple publicly announced Kids Can't Wait on May 11. 2. On May 11, Apple sent Kids Can't Wait information packets to all public shool district superintendents and all eligible private school administrators. This packet

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3. On May 11, Apple sent all public and all eligible

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4. Between May 12-June 10 the public school districts and private school administrative units send Apple the list of schools they approve to receive a personal computer system. Only those schools will receive a Kids Can't Wait

system. The schools will also return to us the Donee Acceptance Statement in which they agree to:

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not exchange or sell the donation for other goods or services.

only use the donation for the direct educational

use of children.

not to group the products in one facility.

donation must be permanently assigned to an

individual school.

Each

5. Schools in Southern California that have their district's approval will be asked to attend an Apple sponsored meeting to discuss the program, receive their additional material and to select an orientation appointment with the dealer of their choice. These meetings will be held starting June 13. Schools which do not come to the meetings will sign up for orientation directly with a dealer and will be mailed the supplementary material we have prepared for them on June 24.

Schools in Northern California will sign up for orientation directly with the dealer of their choice. They will be mailed their supplementary material on June 10.

6. Every individual school that has been approved to participate in Kids Can't Wait will receive an Orientation Certificate that may be redeemed for an orientation session through a participating Kids Can't Wait dealer. Orientation Certificates will be sent to the schools during the

week of June 20.

after.

7.

Orientation sessions will begin immediately there

This is the key part of the program. Our dealers

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Completely fill out the certificate.

Send the Orientation Certificate to their Apple Regional Support Center within five days of the conclusion of the orientation.

9. The Apple Regional Support Centers will send the Kids Can't Wait system directly to the school address which is filled in on the back of the Orientation Certificate. The school representative receiving the orientation will also be asked to indicate an address to which we can send a notification prior to the time we ship the product.

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The reaction of the individual schools to our program has been very exciting. As mentioned earlier, Apple mailed its offering to California school districts and to private school administrative units during the late afternoon of May 11. May 16 we had already received several positive responses. May 24, two weeks after we had announced the program we had received 673 responses representing 3,293 individual schools.

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In conclusion, we believe that S. 1194 and S. 1195 can provide the incentive for manufacturers to give needed computers to schools. However, the training requirement and the 50% assembly requirement of S. 1195 would seriously flaw the intended law.

STATEMENT OF GENE BOTTOMS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
AMERICAN VOCATIONAL ASSOCIATION, ARLINGTON, VA.

Mr. BOTTOMS. Mr. Chairman, I am Gene Bottoms, executive director of the American Vocational Association. We appreciate the opportunity to present our views to you and the subcommittee. I will direct my comments toward S. 1194 and S. 1195 and I will try to summarize my points there.

We believe that both of these bills will encourage public corporations a critical problem. As we move advanced technology into the workplace, it is changing the knowledge and skills that workers need and is, in fact, rendering some of our vocational technical programs obsolete. Throughout the testimony I have presented evidence of the obsolescence of instructional equipment and programs, a difficulty of getting staff in many of the particularly advanced technology areas. That problem will add to another problem we have.

You have heard an awful lot about the shortage of math and science and engineers in this Nation and the comparison with Western Europe and Far Eastern countries. You can make similar comparisons in the advanced level technical and skilled areas. We have similar shortages there and there is considerable data to support that. If you talked to production managers, they are going to be concerned about individuals who can install, who can operate, who can maintain, and who can make application of the advanced technology available in this country.

James Medoff, an economist of Harvard, points out that since the mid-1970's we have a major mismatch between the people and jobs in the Nation, and that mismatch is growing and there is evidence that supports that. Most of our employment training policies have only focused on the entry jobs at the bottom rung of the job ladder. And while we have shortage at the top of the job ladder, we also have major shortages in the advanced level of technical and skill areas. We believe these two bills will help address that problem.

We particularly support the proposed expansion to the technical equipment area. In appendix A I have listed the high tech areas, the advancing technologies, and their implications for the different vocational areas. We believe there is a Federal role in helping to modernize the institutions in this country that prepare this nation's technical and skilled work force, not only for the new entries but to help many of the structurally unemployed to reprepare themselves for some of these jobs that exist.

There is widespread adequacies in terms of equipment. One of the studies reported on is a lady's study from Pennsylvania that documents that a fourth of their instructional equipment is completely out of date. They also document the cost-and it is in the testimony-of what it would take to bring those programs up to date and develop some new programs in the high tech area.

In addition, I know in your own State the vocational and technical folks have been working with at least one automotive production plant there as they have moved in some advanced automotive areas in preparing people. Just as industries in the R&D area seek out universities, production companies are going to seek out communities that have the capacity to prepare advanced level techni

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