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Just listen to our presidential candidates carefully. All you can hear from them are lofty promises of a better future through growth and jobs. What we do realize is that considering our current situation, they just cannot afford to go back on their promises.

For Americans especially, the future does look bleak during these tough times when technology is transforming our landscape and people find themselves without jobs. To ensure that each and every American is a part of this transformation, we must do something drastic.

In our society, to achieve a brighter future is the sole aim. Our economy and work landscape has been however severely redefined by technology in the past two decades. Many secure and stable jobs are being scrapped. The era today is digital and many Americans are at a loss as to where to find better opportunities.

The need of the hour is to allow all Americans access to colleges irrespective of their background. In the 21st century, we must realize that the there are many paths to success apart from the four-year college education.

It is possible to create the right opportunities in this age only by rethinking our education, innovation, training and investment processes. For higher learning, fresh new models need to be developed by rethinking post-secondary education.

We must essentially realize that there is no expiry date for education and it is a life-long process. It is time to embrace emerging platforms such as online learning and other alternative learning models as this is the only way to teach the necessary skills required by employers. In order to succeed, students must be encouraged to boldly embrace adaptive learning systems.

Most flexible learning systems are designed to help students succeed by tailoring courses to meet individual expectations, needs and abilities. Most importantly, we must look for affordable options that will still produce skilled and qualified Americans suited for jobs.

New career paths can be created and businesses can expand only through creation of a fundamentally new workforce. This can be achieved only with the help of technology in addition to training and education.

Meeting the global demand of millions of consumers, we can increase export of services by connecting to various sized businesses world-wide. New lending models will expand access to credit and smart capital and this in turn will spur business growth thereby reducing barriers.

Competency based job search and transparency must be in place as we connect employers, workers and training programs over the internet. Today there is undoubtedly a chronic mismatch between work and skills. This can be overcome only through the insight of educators as they identify skills necessary for students to succeed.

America has always come through challenging situations before and we can do it yet again. Since our country has come into existence, our fundamental belief has always driven our economy and growth. It is time for us today to ensure that the powerful American dream is within the reach of every single citizen and this is possible only by addressing issues at the grass root level which is obviously education.