Peter F. Drucker on Economic Threats

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The Schools in 1990

THE BIGGEST IN FRASTRUCTURE CHALLENGE for this country in the next decade is not the billions needed for railroads, highways, and energy. It is the American school system, from kindergarten through the Ph.D. program and the postgraduate education of adults. And it requires something far scarcer than money—thinking and risk-taking.

The challenge is not one of expansion. On the contrary, the explosive growth in enrollment over the last thirty years has come to an end. By 1978 more than 93 percent of young people entering the labor force had at least an eighth-grade education. So even if the birth rate should ...