Thinking for a Living: Education and the Wealth of Nations

This is the first book to address head-on the issue of the appalling mismatch between what our economy needs and what our educational institutions actually provide.. Thinking for a Living is the first attempt ever to document the appalling mismatch between the needs of our economy on the one hand and the structure of our educational systems on the other. This important and influential book spells out how families, communities, and, most of all, businesses can maximize the skills of our work force through an aggressive educational policy that actually contributes to the effectiveness of our most valuable resource: people. }Why should employers pay American workers much more to work far fewer hours a year than the competition? They wontunless Americans know more and can do more than the workers with whom they compete. Thinking for a Living is the first book to address head-on the issue of the appalling mismatch between what our economy needs and what our educational institutions actually provide.

A massive imbalance between the resources available for the education of our managerial, technical, and professional workers on the one hand, and our line workers on the other, threatens our economic survival, according to Marshall and Tucker. The book provides a blueprint for the radical reconstruction of our schools, following much the same principles that allowed some of Americas leading industrial organizations to rescue themselves from the brink of ruin by greatly raising productivity without increasing costs. But education, the authors point out, is far more than schooling. All the major functions of our society must function as integrated learning systems. This book spells out how families, communities, and, most of all, businesses can contribute to the effectiveness of our most valuable resource: people. The American educational system is designed to meet the manpower needs of a bygone era. If America is to survive in the infinitely more demanding economic environment of the next century, we must maximize the skills of our work force.

Our economic policies will failand our standard of living will fallunless they are linked to an aggressive education policy that results in unprecedented levels of performance. }