OPINION
The Chronicle
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Ernest H. Pitt Publisher/Co-Founder
donna Rogers Managing Editor
Elaine Pitt Business Manager
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Our Mission
The Chronicle is dedicated to serving the
residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth
County by giving voice to the voiceless, speak
ing truth to power, standing for integrity and
encouraging open communication and
lively debate throughout the community.
2015 graduates
are competing
with technology
It is college graduation season in Winston-Salem.
As students complete their college educations, it's
time for them to head into another season of their
lives. What do they have to look forward to?
A lot depends on their majors. Even more
depends on their personal A choices
The college experience gives students what they
put into it. College is not a place that spoon-feeds
students. The fact that students graduate from college
at all is an accomplishment in itself because students
pretty much have to educate themselves with all the
distractions surrounding them. Professors are paid to
provide knowledge but students can learn that
knowledge or throw it away. What happens next
depends on whether students can navigate through a
world without a professor but instead a boss. The
world will not have grades but instead personnel
reviews. It will not be a professor who gets paid but
instead the student. Will students be able to make the
transition?
More importantly, will there be jobs for students
who graduate?
Dr. Mike Walden with the North Carolina
Cooperative Extension Service says that recent
research shows more businesses are replacing work
ers with machines and technology. He says that
"smart technology" - where the technology can gath
er information and make decisions - is helping
employers decide to "hire" technology over human
beings. (See his column in Forum.)
One example is Wells Fargo. News reports say
it's assessing its business model to determine where
it can use technology best and thus eliminate human
positions, which cost more money in the long run
because it has to pay employees year after year and
offer them benefits. (Wells Fargo declined to com
ment on the report.) With smart technology, the
"employee" can be depreciated, thus saving the com
pany money.
The college graduates of today could be unem
ployed tomorrow, replaced by a device that costs less
to use and uses its "brain." What's a college graduate
to do in that case?
Employers make decisions on what's best for
their businesses; college graduates have to remember
that. Employers need to make money; college gradu
ates need to remember that. To get that first job out
of college, college graduates have to think like
employers. They need to be flexible enough to dis
cover the needs of employers and present their skills
as a way to help employers.
That's where personal constitutions come into
play.
College graduates should know that they might
have to sacrifice some things early in their careers to
reach their goals. There will need to be a paradigm
shift.
Staying out late could be one sacrifice, if they
know they will need to start out earlier get to work
on time. Restraining from texting and talking to
friends during a meeting (unlike what might have
happened during a class in college) might be another
sacrifice. And taking a selfie when the boss it talking
to you could be a sacrifice.
College graduates should not take finding a job
lightly. And once a job is found, they should not take
working on a job lightly. Jobs are hard to come by
these days, unless you are a "smart technology" job
candidate.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Condolences
for UNCC
alumus killed
in train wreck
To the Editor:
The Amtrak tragedy that occurred
Tuesday evening [in Philadelphia]
claimed the lives of at least eight peo
ple and injured hundreds of passen
gers and crew members. Dr. Derrick
E. Griffith, a dean at Medgar Evers
College and a UNC Charlotte alum,
was one of those lost during that trag
ic event.
During his time at UNCC,
Derrick was a leader for students here
at home and took that with him as he
worked to touch the lives of students
in New York throughout his academic
career. His contributions to education
are truly admirable.
My heart goes out to his family
and ftiends and my thoughts and
prayers will remain with them during
this difficult time.
U.S. Rep. Alma S. Adams
(NCI 2)
Washington, D.C.
Thank God
for the
Salvation Army
To the Editor:
Pockets of despair within a land
scape buttressed with hope and pros
perity ? this is what I see in our
beloved Winston-Salem.
Why can't people who say they
care about all of God's children see
what I see?
To the South - From U.S.
150/Peters Creek Parkway/Baseball
Stadium Area all the way to the
Davidson County line, there are
signs of growth and new life. North
University Parkway past Wake
Forest University and beyond,
opportunity abounds bustling with
new businesses, housing, services,
etc.
Ah! The West - Highest socioe
conomic area within the boundaries
of the entire county, theirs represents
the best of what balanced growth
and development looks like. Of
course they pay the highest taxes. No
mystery, simply economics of segre
gation.
The East? - Where is this? Who
wants to live
here 7 Median
family income
somewhere
below
$30,000s,
unemployment
rate double
that of broader
community,
demographic
profile - on
life support.
You go figure why a Homeless
Shelter is just another nail in this
coffin.
Thank God for the Salvation
Army. It does a great service here
and all throughout this country.
In times such as these the model
must review itself in view of the
requirements necessary to be
licensed to fish ... not simply to
teach one how to fish.
Evelyn Terry
Winston-Salem:
Be there!
To the Editor.
The historic trial of our lawsuit
[N.C. NAACP v. McCrory] against
the McCrory-Tillis-Berger law
designed to disenfranchise African
American and other anti-racism vot
ers has been postponed a week. The
federal judge notified us that he
wants the trial to begin on July 13 in
his court in Winston-Salem.
It gives us a week more to spread
the word. Tell everyone. Monday,
July 13, Winston-Salem! We march
across our Edmund Pettus Bridge in
Winston-Salem to
expose and
reverse the Tea
Party's unconstitu
tional attack on
the voting rights
our parents and
grandparents won
with their lives
and blood. North
Carolina is our
Selma!
Also, the N.C.
NAACP and
Forward Together
Moral Movement
handed a request
tor emails between
the Governor, Dr. Wos, who runs the
Department of Health and Human
Services, and the 100 county DSS
Directors, trying to get evidence
about why the voter registrations of
people applying for public assistance
had dropped 66 percent from the day
Gov. McCrory took office in January
2013. We asked Governor McCrory
for an immediate public statement
about this suspicious drop off in reg
istration of welfare recipients, which
is required by the 1993 National
Voter Registration Act. Dr. Wos' staff
has said we can get some emails, but
we have to pay for them. Stay tuned.
On Thursday, May 7, the Daily
Kos published a troubling report that
snowed a sub
stantial drop in
voter registra
tions submitted
from public
assistance agen
cies since the
beginning of
2013. According
to the State
Board of
Elections, in
2012,41,162 reg
istration applications were submitted
from pubic assistance agencies. In
2013, this number dropped to 18,758
and in 2014, it dropped even further
to 13340.
Ten more witnesses for justice
were arrested as they tried to exer
cise their constitutional duty to
instruct Sen. Phil Berger about rais
ing the minimum wage to a livable
wage. The General Assembly seems
afraid to let the people vote on a
Constitutional Amendment about a
livable wage.
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II
President
North Carolina NAACP
Durham
Terry
Barber
I ? ?
Winston-Salem Federal Courthouse.
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