Charting a New Course for Schools

Marc Tucker 's article , Charting a New Course for Schools highlights the most urgent problems that the American education system currently faces . He mentions the need to reform the education system in to compete in today 's global economy

Tucker pointed out the deficiencies of the educational system in the country today . Furthermore , he stressed on the need to implement changes to the system . The author focused on information that evidently shows why there is an urgent need to overhaul the educational system

According to Tucker , the report of New Commission on

the Skills of the American Workforce , Tough Choices or Tough Times , provides an overview of the current status of the American labor force . It shows how the American workers are lagging behind workers from developing countries in terms of skills and abilities . Also , Tucker points out that workers from developing countries possess the same skills and knowledge as American workers and yet are paid lower wages . This poses a problem for American workers since it is a given that any business man would choose to lower costs for the same quality . American workers are losing their edge in the labor market due to the antiquated education system of the country

The dilemma for American workers is this , they must either give up their current standard of living or they must improve themselves in terms of skills , talents , and abilities . The latter , according to Tucker , is the reason why a revamp of the country 's education system has become a necessity

Tucker points out two criteria that the United States must meet in for its workers to continue commanding their high wages and maintain their standard of living . The author says that first , American workers must match the best academic performance in the world . At the same time , Tucker said , the country must offer workers that are the most creative and innovative

The article also highlighted the characteristics of a premium worker or the worker that deserves to be paid premium wages . According to the author American workers should become premium workers in to receive the current wages that they are receiving . He described a premium worker as someone who has a high level of preparation in the general areas of reading , speaking , mathematics , history , literature fine arts , and science . Furthermore , a premium worker should be comfortable with new ideas and abstractions . He must also be creative and possess the imagination to come up with meaningful and useful products for the company . Premium workers must also possess the ability to solve problems by using their knowledge from various fields . Lastly Tucker described a premium worker as someone who is a team player and can easily adapt to the various changes around him

Premium workers are products of a good and up-to-date educational system . This is the current problem of the education in the country as the current system is no longer adept with the conditions of today . To tackle this problem , Tucker suggested seven steps that...