Despite the stagnancy of the economy, high-technology companies are still crying out for skilled workers. The Information Technology Association of America projects that more than 800,000 technology jobs will go (36) next year. The lack of qualified workers (37) a huge threat to the US economy. The most commonly cited reason for this state of affairs is that the country’s agrarian-age (农耕时代) education system fails to prepare students in the (38) and secondary grades for twenty first century work. Yet an (39) and outmoded education system is only part of the problem. A less tangible but (40) powerful cause is an antique classification system that (41) the workforce into two camps: white-collar knowledge workers and blue-collar (42) laborers. Blue-collar workers emerged in the United States during the Industrial Age as work (43) from farms to factories. (44) .Corporations increasingly require a new layer of knowledge worker: a highly skilled multi-disciplined talent, who combines the mind of the white-collar worker with a solid grounding in mathematics and science (physics, chemistry, and biology). These "gold-collar" workers-- (45) --apply that knowledge to technology. (46) . The maintenance technician who tests and repairs aircraft systems at American Airlines; the network administrator who manages systems and network operations at Procter ＆ Gamble; the engineering technologist who assists scientists at Sandia National Laboratories; and the advanced-manufacturing technician at Intel can all be regarded as gold-collar workers.