The needs of the United States as an advanced industrial nation are on a collision course with the ability of the young people who will have to fill those needs. If those young people cannot perform - and too many cannot - the country faces a crisis.
This is not a minor matter, either for the country or for the young men and women who will not be able to find work because they do not have the skills and training that America desperately needs.Speaking this week at a conference of state and national Occupational Information Coordinating Committees at Snowbird, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pointed out some of the hard facts about education and training.
In the 21st century - only nine years away - the United States will have to have people with advanced skills, math and analytical ability and communication talent. By 2010, the country will have a shortage of 500,000 scientists and engineers. But there won't be jobs for unskilled workers and uneducated minds.
Faced with that challenging prospect, how well-prepared are today's students for what awaits them? Unfortunately, not well-prepared at all.
Nationally, 42 percent of 13-year-olds cannot read material, interrelate the ideas presented and come up with new generalizations. Only 20 percent of 17-year-olds read the newspaper; less than 15 percent of 8th- and 11th-graders performed adequately on a writing task asking them to compare alternatives. Sixty percent of 13-year-olds could not perform a two-step math problem.
This kind of performance is not going to produce enough of the skilled people to keep the country as one of the leaders in the high-tech world of tomorrow. And for too many young people, it will mean a lifetime of low-paying jobs, or perhaps no jobs at all.
It is no use to put all the blame on schools, although schools clearly must do a better job of preparing students. The first responsibility is on parents. They must expect more from their children; they must set standards; they must insist that youngsters study and do homework; they must know what is being required in the classroom and work with teachers; they must provide discipline and love; they must become deeply involved partners in the education process and not merely bystanders.
In addition, there must be more and better vocational training, more options for children who struggle academically to learn valuable skills. Failure should not be accepted.
Children are the future of the country. Unless they are better prepared than many of them seem to be at the moment, that future could become very shaky.