Education Secretary Arne Duncan asked business executives to pressure policymakers at every level of government to improve an education system that is falling behind the rest of the world.
The U.S., in a single generation, fell from first in the world in college graduates to ninth, Duncan told The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council. Too many students are dropping out of high school, he said. And in math and science education, at least 20 countries beat the U.S.
“We’re simply not producing the citizens, the workers, that you guys need,” Duncan said. “We have not had enough passion, enough push from the business community, and your collective voice is extraordinarily powerful.”