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[music]

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I feel a person, to prepare themselves

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 for the next ten, fifteen, to twenty years,

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 really needs to get as much education as
 possible.

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For example, recently I heard that in the

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 next decade, in the nineteen nineties,

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 500,000 jobs will be created in North
 Carolina.

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It will require an average of 
thirteen point five years

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of education to prepare
 for those jobs.

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So the jobs coming online demand

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a higher level of education.

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The challenge is clear. In this high

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 tech world of global competition,

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the key to long term success for
 individuals

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 and for companies is education.

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But many companies are concerned about
 America's

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 ability to meet that challenge.

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Our nation's recent performance is poor.

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 The fact here in Rockingham County is
 that we have

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 a fifty-five percent rate of persons

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 not being able to read or write

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 above a sixth grade level.

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Those with less than high school
 education really

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 face a fairly bleak future.

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Macfield wants its people to prosper in
 the 21st century.

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That's why Macfield has made a commitment
 to education.

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This means giving preschoolers a head
 start,

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 helping people earn the high school
 diploma they never had,

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and supporting those who want advanced
 training.

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We have a goal, which is for all of our

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 employees to have at least a high school
 education equivalent.

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We would, we would certainly be very
 pleased

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 if we could accomplish that objective.

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We know that the better educational
 background we have,

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 the better we will perform, the
 better we can

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 communicate with each other, 

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the more attention we'll pay to quality
 and productivity,

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and the stronger our company will be.

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[children speaking together]

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Some of the most important educational
 experiences

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 take place early in life

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and Macfield understands this.

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Our first center for preschoolers is in
 Mayodan.

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It's a place where parents can feel good
 about the care

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 and the education their children will
 get.

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We like the idea of being able to provide

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 daycare for the children of our people,

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but more importantly, we would like this
 to be a pre-school experience.

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We would like through these centers to

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 give these children, you know, the
 hunger, the appetite,

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 the learning, teach them reading skills,

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 teach them basic math skills,

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 so that once they get into

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 a regular school program,

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 they'll be motivated to achieve at a
 higher level.

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And this is what we intend to do in Reidsville,
we intend to do it

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in Archdale, we intend to do it

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 in any community where we have plants
 and people.

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In addition to early childhood education,

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 Macfield has formed a partnership with
 Rockingham Community College

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to make it easier for Macfield
 people,

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 at all levels, to further their
 education.

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The concept now, which we are using

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 at Rockingham Community College, which
 is different than ten years ago,

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is the fact that the individual
 comes in,

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they let us know what types of objectives

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 that they would like to accomplish.

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When you come into the class, you're not
 set up

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 in comparing yourself to someone else,

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 which is much different than traditional
 classroom settings.

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There's been some questions about number seventeen.

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There might be a couple of different ways
 to work this.

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[?] You want to show us one way to do it?
Well, this is the way I did it.

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The community college offers a variety of
 courses

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 on campus, but Macfield considers one

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 course so important that it's been brought
 into the plants.

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The classes for adults who want to earn
 their high school

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 equivalency diploma or GED.

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 Making education convenient and free

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 are two ways Macfield encourages its
 people to

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 pursue lifelong learning.

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Teresa.

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Would you like to go to the board and show us that one? I'll pass. Ok.

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Adult education is what I prefer to call

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 the class here at Macfield.

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I would like for them to come in for
 whatever reasons

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they would like to come in. If they want
 to balance a checkbook,

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 if they want to read the newspaper,

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if they want to learn to read their
 Bibles,

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if they would like to teach Sunday
 school, whatever reason they

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 want to come in, I want to be here

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 to help them help themselves through
 learning.

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This setting is much different than in a
 high school setting.

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When people come in and tell me what they
 want to learn,

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 we concentrate on that.

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If the goal is to get a high school
 equivalency degree,

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 we work towards that.

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We don't have a structured class.

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We work with each individual just
with the one person.

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Distance from here
 to here, here to

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 here, here to here and here to here.

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Six times six is thirty-six.

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[?] Not for the area.

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[?]

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Adult education sessions are informal.

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People work at their own pace,

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help one another,

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and come and go as they need to.

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Learning is an individual process and
 through learning,

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each individual gains a unique sense of
 accomplishment.

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That confidence is the foundation of
 future success.

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The best way to get the feeling, 
of how good

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it makes you feel, is to talk to the
 people

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 who have successfully completed these
 courses.

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Find out why they did it,

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how they did it,

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and how they feel about having completed it.

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It made me feel good

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that Macfield would come to its people
 and say,

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 "We want you to finish your high school
 education."

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And it made me feel good that they

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 care enough that they want their people
 to progress.

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It just gave me the opportunity to be the
 person that I desired to be for so long.

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Job wise, I feel like my GED will

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 help me be able to be qualified for more
 jobs.

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I did have an experience at one time that I

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 put in for a job and I did not receive
 it,

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not because I didn't have the seniority,

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 but I just didn't have the
 qualification education wise. 

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 I thought it would be a lot harder, you know.

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But you're with a lot of people that, you know, 

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that are sort of in the same situation 
that you were in, that didn't finish,

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and they want to, you know.

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Nobody's really that much smarter than anybody.

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They don't try to make you look dumb or
anything like that.

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That's one of the things I like about it.

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It makes me feel better about myself knowing 
that I'm going to better myself.

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Satisfy my mind, get my diploma.

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It's important to me.

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Well, I want to go to the college and take
 courses.

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So, I need that to go to the college.

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I wanted to finish, but

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didn't really take the time to go check it out, you know,

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found out what it was all about until they gave
it to us here at Macfield.

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Then all we had to do was sign up for it.

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It'll come to us.

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I tell it very often that I got

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 my GED through Macfield.

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My friends are very proud of me,

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my church friends are very proud of me.

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My church gave a special ceremony in my honor.

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And I'm just proud. They're proud of me,

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but they're not half as proud as I am.

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[music]