DOING THE HIGH SCHOOLS' WORK? The Conference Board has a gripe. Most Young People Entering the U.S. Workforce Lack Critical Skills Essential for Success. Specifically:

The findings show an especially big gap in writing skills. Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of incoming high school graduates are viewed as deficient in basic English writing skills, including grammar and spelling. And, when asked about readiness with regard to applied skills related to the workplace, the greatest deficiency was reported in written communications (memos, letters, complex technical reports), and in professionalism and work ethic. Eighty-one percent of survey participants say their high school graduate hires were deficient in written communications.

Many employers expect to substitute more hiring from the two- and four-year colleges for hiring out of high school, although there's accumulating evidence that the colleges are not doing the high schools' job more effectively.

Poor writing skills also continued to be a problem among both two-year and four-year college graduates. Nearly half of all survey participants (47 percent) report that two-year college graduates are deficient in this skill.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel picks up some Milwaukee-area reaction.

The gap is growing between employer expectations and applicants' competency, which should compel more businesses to get involved in the education system, said Van Walling, vice president and area manager for CH2M Hill engineering.

But the education establishment gets defensive.

Sister Joel Read, co-chairwoman of the education committee of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, said employers have long griped about the quality of job applicants, though rarely detailed the deficiencies.

"It's not enough to complain about it. It just isn't," said Read, retired president of Alverno College.

"Teaching is not a profession that's held in high regard by the business community, and I think it's come to roost, so to speak," Read said.

Much as a company would work with a supplier to improve components it found inadequate, Read said, employers must help educators instead of just criticizing them.

It might be more effective to focus on the revealed preferences of the education establishment. The Conference Board was not uniformly negative.

Interestingly, workforce readiness of high school graduates was reported as adequate by a majority of survey participants in three areas considered critical for current and future workplace needs: [information technology, teamwork, and diversity.]

The first might be an emergent phenomenon from years of practice with Play Stations and laptops. The second and third might reflect the schools' emphases on active learning and group work. Whether multicultural curricula have crowded out the basic skills remains an open question.

Another revealed preference is being reconsidered, notes Betsy's Page.

I've long thought that we do kids a big disservice by pretending that every single student should be placed on a college-track. Some kids are just not interested in learning all that college-prep material; they tune out, start failing, and then eventually drop out. However, there are plenty of decent careers out there for which a college education is not necessary. And they could get excellent vocational training and some business training and be ready to go out into the world ready for a career as an electrician, an auto-mechanic or computer repairman. Rather than turning high school into a struggle to fit kids into a one-size-fits-all career path that, in essence, abandons some kids, we could prepare them vocationally and keep them from dropping out from school and society.

She links to a CNN article that suggests the new thinking about the industrial arts is as a skill, not as a sump for the burnouts.

The question of how to create a skilled labor force that meets future needs is something that has occupied Rick Stephens for years.

The senior vice president for human resources at Boeing Co. said everyone needs a range of training to succeed these days.

"An auto mechanic today needs to know computer science, electronics, how to use sophisticated electronic tools ... none of which require a degree," Stephens said.

In 2000, there were 258 career tech high school courses that met University of California standards. Six years later, the number is up to 4,705, according to state statistics. That is significant, say career tech advocates, because it illustrates how the academic world is beginning to realize the importance of the trades and include them in college courses.

The woodshop class at Hoover [high school in San Diego] is one of the few electives available at the comprehensive high school.

Teacher Arturo Gonzales spent 10 years working in the cabinetmaking industry before he took a pay cut to teach. His classes are crowded and he would benefit from having an assistant, but money is tight, he said.

"A lot of kids are in here to create, to get away from the math class, the English class," Gonzales said. "They want to work with their hands."

He tells his students that this is a math class, too, but a fun one.

Indeed. (One of these days the "sand falls on a conical pile" related-rate problem will be replaced with one that starts "A ship is 889 feet long and displaces 40,000 tons ...)