Small business ...Senate committee addresses education woes

by Bryan Smith

SBJ Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON Carol Ball has noticed that applicants to her Ohio-based publishing company are not as prepared as they used to be.

Missouri Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond discussed the education of future small-business employees the morning of May 25 in a Senate Committee on Small Business hearing, where Ball represented millions of small-business owners.

"I consistently interview and train high school graduates who show less than adequate skill levels in the core areas of reading, writing, math and communication," Ball said.

The hearing concerned the status of education and whether students are actually entering the workplace ready for jobs.

"We are now preparing ourselves, our businesses and our nation for a new millennium," Bond said in his testimony. "In doing this, we must see, confront and overcome the challenges that we know are in front of us. It is my opinion that one of our top priorities should be the education of our children."

The hearing resulted from the American Management Association's study on literacy and math skills in the workplace. The study, introduced at the hearing by AMA Director of Management Studies Eric Rolfe Greenberg, concluded that 36 percent of job applicants tested by the AMA in 1998 lacked the sufficient reading and math skills to do the jobs they sought.

"While we found no direct correlation between organizational size and reported deficiency rates, we did find that the smaller companies among our respondents those employing fewer than 500 workers nationwide or grossing less than $10 million annually had deficiency rates well above the national average," Greenberg said.

Ball, who also represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the hearing, said education of all students, from elementary to high school, was important to the nation's future.

"Their academic competence and skills will determine whether small business continues to be the strong job-producing engine and bastion of opportunity that it has been over the last decade, or whether it will sputter and stall," Ball said in her testimony. "In their hands ultimately lies the future strength and prosperity of the nation."

In his testimony at the hearing, Bond said the country's economic status rested on students and their readiness to enter the workplace.

"We should be doing everything we can to maintain our competitive advantage where we have it and regain it where we have already lost it," Bond said. "Therefore, business interests small and large have a tremendous stake in our educational system, and their input is imperative to making the improvements we need to prepare our children for a lifetime of achievement."

Each speaker at the hearing had his or her own views on how to improve the success of America's future entrepreneurs. Greenberg said training and skill development is the answer, but said businesses are not doing enough.

"In the arena of basic literacy and math skills, organizations in recent years are doing less, not more," Greenberg said.

Businesses are cutting costs in their organizations, Greenberg said, and that cutting has eliminated remedial programs in many areas. Since 1993, the number of firms offering such programs has dropped from 24 percent to 15 percent, and Greenberg said the trend is continuing.

Another alternative, however, focuses on the business community's support of elementary and secondary education.

"Partnerships of this kind are flourishing in various areas of the country, but they are by no means widespread nor uniform in the commitment that both sides bring to the table," Greenberg said. "To be effective, schools must be as adaptable to changing needs as businesses must be to stay competitive."

Ball said the U.S. chamber's position is that "the responsibility for the quality of the education process rests directly with the state and local governments. It is the role of the federal government, as well as national organizations like the chamber, to facilitate the states in achieving the goal of quality teachers and high standards of education," she added.

Ball talked about the chamber's efforts in improving the quality of education. She said one program encouraged employers to ask for high school records, including attendance, grades and extracurricular activities, as part of the employment process.

"If high school grades are not viewed as an important part of getting a job after graduation, then students won't make an effort to achieve," Ball said. "By making academics count, students will know we mean business."

Edward Bust, who serves as chairman and chief executive officer of State Farm Insurance Companies, said a solution to the problem would have to be ongoing.

"We must understand that education improvement is not a one-time issue addressed in a single bill or a single initiative," Bust said. "The education issue is an ever-changing challenge."

Those improvements, Bust said, would have to be subject to change if students were going to be prepared for the work force as soon as they graduate.

"We must commit to support an education system that is built on resiliency, flexibility and continuous improvement to ensure that students are prepared both for the new world of work and the expectations of higher education," Bust said.

[[In-content Ad]]