I travelled with a delegation of Minneapolis Public Schools educators in April of 2007 to our sister city, Uppsala, Sweden. There I visited schools, talked to city officials, school staff, administrators and teachers to learn about their education system. The exchange was complete when the delegation's hosts came the following October to get the Minneapolis experience. We gained some ideas and learned a lot about about each other's systems, but of equal importance was the friendships we formed and the lifelong bonds that remain beyond our year of the exchange.

Also in October 2007, Lydia travelled with a delegation of Americans to Beijing, Shanghai and Quiyang, China, to learn about their Career and Technical Education programs. The enormous numbers that the Chinese government must deal with when educating the masses is a major challenge. The promise to the people is an 8th grade education. Beyond that, students must qualify and families must pay for a child's higher education so they become professionals and can be more assured of a stable living condition. The Chinese are proud of their progressive educational programs that train students for specialized skills in a world class economy.

In both Sweden and China, government officials project into the future the vocational and professional needs of the community and the country. They then control the available openings in high school and college programs so they can meet those needs.