This means high skills. Second, Americans have always aspired to have a higher standard of living. This means, of course, higher wages. The only way we can afford higher wages, while competing with low-wage countries, is through vastly superior productivity. And the only way to get quantum increases in productivity is through high skills.
Competitiveness demands the highest quality products or services.
This, in turn, demands higher skills, which command higher pay. So there's an increasing recognition that high skills pave the way to economic survival and to the level of prosperity we desire. Listen to this. It has been estimated that six or seven million jobs will be created in the US during the last four years of the century. However, the great majority of them will require reading and math skills beyond the level most people currently achieve in high school.