A recent
study by Educational Testing Service (Princeton, NJ) found that
the literacy of American adults ranks 10th out of 17 industrialized
nations. In addition, the U.S. has the largest gap between highly
and poorly educated adults, with immigrants and minorities making
up the largest portion of the poorly educated group. Finally,
not only did Americans ages 16-25 perform worse than those in
other countries, but they also performed much worse than older
Americans.
The study
shows that the workforce of our manufacturing competition is gaining
ground on us. Some are already ahead, and others may pass us.
It's possible (who knows how likely) that the cry about jobs going
overseas because it's cheaper to produce parts there may turn
into a cry that jobs are going overseas because we can't find
enough skilled and intelligent workers.
For our industry,
these statistics are especially important. Many line workers and
factory employees fall into those categories that have the highest
illiteracy rates. The efficiency and quality of this country's
finishing shops will most likely fall if workers are less and
less able to read and understand part diagrams, instruction manuals
and paint formulations.
Now, I'm the first to admit that I don't often vote in favor of
education levies, mostly because I think our city and state governments
have enough money. I think they just spend it in the wrong places.
In Cincinnati,
by the end of this year we will have spent almost $1 billion (yes
$1 billion) to build two new stadiums. And, we're going to spend
hundreds of millions more to improve our convention center and
riverfront area. Many major cities across the country are spending
money in much the same way.
But, what
would happen if we as a country just took a portion of that money
from those projects and pumped it into the poorest performing
schools of our education system? We could have the most state-of-the-art
schools in the world. We might actually be able to pay people
enough to attract some individuals from the business world into
the teaching world, even it was just on a part time basis, instead
of passing on the teaching profession because it doesn't pay well
enough.
For years,
our country has either ignored the problem or attempted to find
a patchwork solution. If we continue in that vain, we may find
ourselves no longer at the top of the manufacturing food chain.
Perhaps we should find a real solution to the problem before it's
too late.
