Comment

Since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, the business community has been one of the most persistent and effective participants in the effort to improve America's public schools. Business has stayed the course with education reform because knowledge and skills are even more important to the nation's economy and individual success now than they were two decades ago. The title of Milton Goldberg and Susan L. Traiman's paper, "Why Business Backs Education Standards," indicates that two of America's most knowledgeable and influential business organizations--the National Alliance of Business and The Business Roundtable--have concluded that education standards must be the centerpiece of education reform. Goldberg and Traiman do not argue that standards-based reforms are more effective than others, but they present from a business perspective a well-reasoned and powerful explanation of why that is the only approach that will prepare America's young people to compete economically now and into the future.

The New Economy

Goldberg and Traiman's description of the new economy provides the broad context necessary to understand the business perspective regarding education standards. Arguing over whether or not one likes recent economic developments and their educational and social consequences is of little value. The combined forces of globalization and technology that have been unleashed in the world are both inevitable and irreversible. Those who fight them will lose; and those who work with them to the greatest advantage will win. These combined forces are not only contributing to increased economic productivity but are also improving the quality of life for people around the world.

Critics are rightly concerned that some people are being left behind by these changes. Throughout the course of history, significant technological advances have always favored those who create and learn to use new tools most effectively. The emergence of the new economy as described by Goldberg and Traiman places a greater premium on education than ever before. The challenge to America is to educate as many of its people as possible to levels that will enable them to contribute to and participate more fully in the new, internationally integrated, highly technological world.

The United States will never again dominate the world economy to the extent that it did for decades after the Second World War. Strong industrial, technological, and educational developments in other nations have caused America's share of world markets to remain about the same as it was two decades ago. Despite what critics may say, the proliferation of free-market democracies, free-trade zones, and other such open structures are positive developments. The resulting emergence of an integrated economy with the constant interaction and flow of people, ideas, products, and services across international boundaries has opened up exciting opportunities for people to participate in worldwide business activities, if they have the attributes necessary to do so.

The chancellor of the Texas A&M System, Barry Thompson, commissioned a study about the work-force needs of Texas businesses and the extent to which graduates from A&M institutions met those requirements. The report, Changing Employment Demands and Requirements for College Graduates: Focus Group Interviews with Industry, Agency, and School District Representatives in Texas, by Mary Zey, Alvin Luedka, and Steven Murdoch, was released in January 1999. Its findings associated with globalization and technology apply just as well to public school students as to university graduates.

In the several focus groups conducted, human resource professionals reported that graduates from Texas A&M institutions possess some desirable qualities and lack others. Texas A&M graduates were valued for their technical expertise, personal work habits, and organizational loyalty. But they were found lacking in cultural sophistication, human relations, and other soft skills that are needed in business today. One participant remarked, "To be more competitive, they need more life experiences, out of cow towns, so they can interact in Fortune 500 companies." Another noted that graduates of A&M universities were less sophisticated than graduates from...