Panel Says Schools’ Foreign Language Failings Could Threaten Economy and National Security

From http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/education/panel-says-schools-failings-could-threaten-economy-and-national-security.html?_r=1

Panel Says Schools’ Failings Could Threaten Economy and National Security
March 19, 2012

The nation’s security and economic prosperity are at risk if schools do not improve, warns a report by a panel led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joel I. Klein, a former chancellor of New York City’s school system.

The report said that the State Department and intelligence agencies face critical shortages in the number of foreign-language speakers and that fields like science, defense and aerospace are at risk because a shortage of skilled workers is likely to worsen as baby boomers retire.

The panel made three main recommendations:
¶ Common Core standards should be adopted and expanded to include science, technology and foreign languages.
¶ Students, especially those in poor schools, should have more choices in where they go to school.
¶ Governors, working with the federal government, should develop a national security readiness audit, to judge whether schools are meeting targets.

Read the full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/education/panel-says-schools-failings-could-threaten-economy-and-national-security.html?_r=1