The United States will not be competitive in the global economy of the 21st century without a technically trained work force. Community colleges and secondary schools offering technical programs are becoming increasingly important to local businesses as companies rely on a combination of schools and on-the-job training to help their employees develop needed qualifying skills. The benefits of technical education have been proved in studies confirming the high performance rates of technical education students and the high wages of vocational-technical school graduates versus those of their nontechnical education counterparts. Bias against vocational training in public schools still persists, however. Promising innovations, including advanced learning technologies, partnerships with industry, and youth apprenticeship programs, are helping to strengthen technical education in the schools. Technical education for a highly skilled work force currently represents only a small fraction of the total higher education budget. The time has come for a fundamental federal policy shift that includes the following: changing priorities to emphasize human resources development, strengthening partnerships with industry, fostering continuous quality improvements in technical education, easing the school-to-work transition, strengthening both first- and second-chance programs for disadvantaged persons, and recognizing achievement and bolstering student organizations. (Contains 60 references.) (MN)