Quick Action Needed to Ensure America’s Status in Global Economy

High school freshmen have two million minutes to prepare for a world that’s unlike anything previous generations have known.

Will they graduate ready to meet the demands of the global economy? Will they be able to compete with students from other countries whose academic instruction may have been more rigorous? Will we improve our education system in time to ensure our young people are successful in the twenty-first century?

Pat Harvey, senior fellow for state and district initiatives with the National Center on Education and the Economy/America’s Choice, participates in a discussion at the ACT annual meeting. Harvey is a member of ACT’s Education Division Advisory Board.

While the answers varied among participants at ACT’s annual meeting, everyone agreed on two main points: America is in a crisis and the door to opportunity is open. The ACT Board of Directors, advisory board members, and staff, plus state representatives and distinguished guests, gathered October 22–23 in Iowa City to address the theme of the meeting, “Ready to Learn, Ready to Work: Challenges for the United States in a Global Economy.”

“We are faced with an increasingly complex and competitive global economy,” said Richard L. Ferguson, ACT CEO and chairman of the board. “If we don’t adequately prepare our young people and our existing workers to move into the types of careers this advancing economy demands, other countries will step in and fill the void. To some extent, that is already happening. Geographic borders are no longer an obstacle to job transfer. Jobs can—and will—go where the skills are.”

Bob Compton, executive producer of the documentary “Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination,” addresses the issue of global competition at ACT’s annual meeting.

For keynote speaker Bob Compton, executive producer of the documentary “Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination,” raising awareness of the educational systems in other countries can help us fix America’s education crisis. The film examines the everyday lives, pressures, and ambitions of six high school students—two each from the United States, China, and India—as they navigate their final year of high school and make plans for the future.

“Our children face the toughest competitive environment ever, and our high school system is not sufficiently preparing them for that environment,” said Compton, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. “We need to make radical changes very quickly if we want our children to have the standard of living we’ve had. Otherwise, we face the very real possibility that for the first time in American history, we’ll need to lower our standard of living because of global competition.”

ACT Board of Directors members Charles Reed (left) and Sarita Brown join the discussion at the annual meeting.

Compton was inspired to make the film after quizzing first graders in several countries, including the United States, about their career goals. Engineer and scientist were the most popular careers listed by students in several countries, but U.S. students didn’t mention either of them. The top occupations listed by U.S. first graders included pro athlete and entertainer. “I actually believe that you can predict the economic future of a country by the aspirations of its first graders,” he said.

The documentary contrasts the lifestyles and study habits of students in China and India with those of American students. It gives the impression that academics are taken more seriously in China and India than in the United States.

The ACT Board of Directors participates in a roundtable discussion with keynote speaker Bob Compton during the annual meeting. From left are James Bostic, Jr., Richard W. Riley, Mark D. Musick, Compton, Richard L. Ferguson, Roberts T. Jones, and Dixie Axley.

We need to change the American culture first, and then transform our educational system, said Compton. “We revere, recognize, and reward athletic achievement over intellectual achievement. How can we expect educators to motivate students to study when we spend $30 million on a new football stadium? What message does that send to kids?”

He said that China and India are setting the educational standard and, because they have four times the population of the United States, they stand to become the world leaders in education.

Judy Codding

But as Judy Codding, president and CEO of America’s Choice, pointed out, China and India aren’t educating their entire populations. “We have to put the China and India situations in context. These countries are educating only the elite, and are not attempting to educate all their students, as we are in the United States.” The elite are the top 10 to 20 percent of students in China and top 20 to 30 percent in India, she said.

Our country’s competition is broader than China and India, she added. America’s Choice, an organization known for its Navigator and Ramp-Up intervention programs, recently completed a study of high-performing high schools in 23 nations. Results revealed they share eight common characteristics:

• High expectations of students
• Aligned and coherent instructional system
• Safety net system
• Belief that performance is what really matters
• School culture focused on results
• System of professional development
• Highly qualified teachers
• Student incentives

Members of the ACT Board of Directors listen to a discussion at the annual meeting. From left are Carl Cohn, J. Theodore Sanders, and Belle Wheelan.

Of these, an aligned and coherent instructional system contributes the most to high performance, because the examinations given in these countries assess the curriculum taught, said Codding. In high-performing countries, teachers are expected to teach to a specific test because the curriculum is aligned to that test. “In these high-performing nations, education is a civil right and a matter of economic competitiveness. Student performance is what really matters. We say that in our country, but they act on it.”

The United States needs to do a better job of aligning curriculums with tests so our students are better prepared for college and the workforce, said Codding. “I think we can all agree that our current education and training systems were designed for another era. We live in a new world that demands much more of all of us—children and adults. The best employers are going to be looking for the most confident, creative, and innovative people in the world.”

Clayton Jones

Rockwell Collins is one such employer. “The United States is losing its way in terms of education and investment in the STEM professions—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” said Clayton Jones, chairman, president, and CEO of Rockwell Collins, a worldwide communications and aviation electronics company.

However, more alarming to employers are the ramifications of the situation: the loss of high-quality jobs to other countries and the loss of purchasing power, net wealth, and tax revenue. These losses contribute to the decline of a vibrant domestic consumer market.

Rockwell Collins understands its global competition. “We know we can’t outprice our competition. Most of our competitors are much larger and more global in scale than we are. The only way we can compete is to outsmart them. We have to hire the most qualified people we can find,” said Jones.

It was a full house at ACT’s annual meeting as participants gathered for a dynamic discussion on the challenges facing the United States in the twenty-first century.

Finding such people is a challenge Rockwell Collins is striving to overcome in many ways.

In partnerships with schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the company is headquartered, employees are involved in a variety of activities with students and teachers. They include “FIRST,” a national program geared toward inspiring young people’s involvement in science and technology through hands-on projects and competitions. The company is also a member of the Corridor STEM Initiative, a project in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Technology Corridor designed to increase awareness of STEM education among all learners in Iowa.

Alan Tuchtenhagen (standing), ACT state representative from Wisconsin, was one of several audience members asking questions of the speakers during the annual meeting.

The speakers agreed that addressing the education and workforce crisis starts locally.

“I believe change begins at the gubernatorial level. Until we have governors who get as excited about academic competitions as they do football games, anything we do at a school level is doomed to failure,” said Compton.

“We must build strong partnerships among business, education, and government, and they must start at the local level,” said Jones. “We can build model programs and replicate them around the world.”

All agreed we need to act quickly, because global competition is here to stay.

“Dramatic improvements in technology and communication translate into increasingly complex skill sets that people must have to compete in the new global economy. Lifelong learning is not just an ideal anymore; it’s a reality and a necessity,” said Ferguson.

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