northwesterners complete high school (compared with only 66% of the U.S. as a whole) and almost 20% achieve college degrees (compared with 16% nationally). As the level of individual education increased, the ability of the average citizen to learn outsid~ of the academic institution began to grow, and the past twenty years has seen a tremendous surge in continuing and self-education by books, periodicals, "in-service" training, videotapes, and night classes. Most of us recognize that we have entered an era of what William Paisley calls learning work, when "learning and working should not be separate but rather intertwined activities in both childhood and adulthood." As learning and working become one and the same, we will adjust our understanding of the northwest economy to recognize the importance of the information sector. Public policy considerations will incorporate an analysis of the contribution of each policy to the region's information industry. Support for basic education, for universities and training centers, and for economic sectors that depend upon knowledge processing and intellectual skills will increase. We can adopt the information age and make it our own, tailor it to our ·own culture and regional traditions, and build our economic future on the great foundation of valuable information resources we already possess. ti Fall/Winter 1986 RAIN Page 9
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