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Asia Society and six national education organizations call on President-elect Obama and Congress to prioritize international education as  part of economic recovery 

(Washington DC/New York, December 16, 2008) – Even as the United States tackles the immediate economic crisis, our long-term economic competitiveness and ability to deal with global challenges is being undermined because America is not sufficiently preparing its next generation for the interconnected world of the 21^st century. This national challenge demands immediate action by our new President and Congress, working with the nation's Governors, educators, and business leaders, to create internationally competitive education systems that are held to world-class standards. To do this, the United States must benchmark its educational system against international standards and practices, redesign high schools to prepare graduates who are college-ready and globally competent, invest in teacher training in international subject matter, expand national capacity for learning world languages - particularly Chinese and Arabic - and expand international teacher and student exchange programs, says a national education report released today that was produced by the Asia Society and endorsed by six leading national education and business organizations.

Asia Society, a non-profit educational  organization, together with the Alliance for Excellent Education, Committee for Economic Development, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of Secondary Schools Principals, National Education Association, and National Middle Schools Association, presented the report entitled Putting the World into World-Class Education, to  incoming administration officials and members of Congress, urging them to ensure that every student has access to a world-class education and to strengthen our capacity to produce globally competent graduates. 

For America to remain competitive in the 21^st century, we urgently need a far more  internationally competent workforce. " If we do not reinvent education for a new era, our children will simply not be able to compete in the global economy," said James B. Hunt Jr. former four-term governor of North Carolina and trustee of Asia Society. "As never before, American education must prepare students for a world where the opportunities for success require the ability to compete and collaborate on a global scale."

The U.S. education system is already lagging behind some of its economic competitors, and the signatory organizations strongly believe that it will only worsen if immediate action is not taken. The United States can no longer afford to be lagging behind other countries in high school graduation rates (currently the U.S. is ranked 18^th among developed nations) and math and science standards (the U.S. ranked 25th among the 30 OECD member countries in mathematics and 21st  in science in 2006), while producing graduates who lack the world knowledge to be successful in this global era.

Graduating from high school, however, will not be enough for students to succeed in the 21^st century. In our increasingly inter-connected world, graduates also need knowledge of other world regions, economies, languages, and global issues.  Asia Society and National Geographic surveys show that U.S. students were next to last out of 14 industrial countries in their knowledge of world regions and current events. And while learning a second language from elementary school on is standard in other industrial countries, only about one-half of U.S. high school students study a foreign language, the majority never  go beyond the introductory level and 70 percent study Spanish.

American business leaders will only succeed if they have employees with knowledge of overseas markets and foreign languages in order to market products and services worldwide. "The more our young people know about the cultural context in which they are operating, the better their competence as business leaders," says Charles Kolb, President of the Committee for Economic Development, an organization of Fortune 500 business leaders. And most of the global challenges facing the United States will only be solved through international collaboration. "Now is the time to broaden the curriculum to include international aspects and prepare our students to be citizens in the global 21^st century," said John Wilson, Executive Director of the National Education Association.

Putting the World into World-Class Education identified 5 key areas that should be immediately addressed:

• Providing states with incentives to benchmark their educational systems against other countries and strengthen their capacity to meet international standards .
• Redesigning middle and high schools to prepare all students to be college-ready and globally competent.
• Investing in our education leaders and teachers' capacity to teach the international dimensions of their subjects. 
• Building national capacity in world languages, especially in languages critical to U.S. security and competitiveness, starting in the early grades.
• Expanding federal programs that support the engagement of U.S. students and teachers with the rest of the world.

The organizations recognize that there are many initiatives across the country to increase graduation rates and add global content and new languages to local schools but feel that these piecemeal efforts are inadequate. "Substantial and strategic new investments are needed in human capital, research, and proven practices and a federal, state, and local partnership must be created that focuses national attention on redesigning our schools for the 21^st century," said Vivien Stewart, Vice President for Education at Asia Society. "The purpose of this partnership must be clear: to ensure our nation's long-term economic competitiveness and national security by dramatically upgrading the skills of our graduates," the report said.

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For more information, contact Emily Howe, ProMedia Communications, ehowe@pro-mediacommunications.com, 212-245-0510 or Heda Bayron, Asia Society, hedab@asiasoc.org; 212-327-9273.

Putting the World into World-Class Education is available at http www. asiasociety.org/education

Asia Society

The Asia Society is an international organization dedicated to strengthening relationships and deepening understanding among the peoples of Asia and the United States.  We seek to increase knowledge and enhance dialogue, encourage creative expression, and generate new ideas across the fields of policy, business, education, arts, and culture.

Asia Society has created the Partnership for Global Learning, a national network of educators committed to sharing best practices and promoting policy innovations to prepare  K-12 students to excel in an interconnected world.

Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, the Society reaches audiences around the world through its headquarters in New York and regional centers in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Hong Kong, Seoul, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai and Shanghai.The Asia Society is supported by contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals.