DH> MS>     This newfound Fortune 500 "committment" to education reform 
DH> migh
DH> MS> believable if the Fortune 500 was desperate for educated 
DH> workforces 
DH> MS> idling them here when it closes American factories to move 
DH> productio
DH> MS> of the least-educated, highest-illiteracy nations on earth.
DH> MS>     Teachers should beware when some company that sees its future 
DH> wo
DH> MS> terms of workers who are abysmally educated even by current 
DH> American
DH> MS> starts talking of its "committment" to school reform and 
DH> standards.
DH>  
DH>   Yes, I suppose this is valid if you're the eternal pessimist. 
DH> I think that *any* commitment to education on the part of business 
DH> (or 
DH> anyone else for that matter) is a good thing.  Sure beats the apathy 
DH> that would sit in it's place.  I am sure there are those businesses 
DH> that fit the mold you allude to here, that I won't argue as I don't 
DH> have any statistics on the hiring practices of the fortune 500 
DH> companies.  I would speculate that certainly not *all* businesses 
DH> (large or small) follow these same hiring practices. To brush aside 
DH> an 
DH> initiative such as this as suspect based on such a broad 
DH> generalization 
DH> about the use of foreign or unskilled labor seems reckless at best.  
DH> Even within an organization that subscribes to those practices, I 
DH> would 
DH> argue that it is entirely possible to have concerned, committed 
DH> business persons interested in playing a role in education reform.  
    "Downsizing" is a major trend in the Fortune 500, and it's showing that 
big business doesn't see the individual employee as a resource to develop and 
keep.
    It makes no sense for a business to push for policies that won't benefit 
it in its current personnel policy.
DH> MS>     And the Fortune 500 sees that workforce in places like Red 
DH> China
DH> MS> Mexico...so why would they care about how well educated American 
DH> kid
DH>  
DH> Well gee, maybe some of 'em have kids?!
    Most executives either send their kids to private schools or to excellent 
suburban schools, in either case schools with good discipline and great SAT 
scores.  Their kids don't go to inner-city schools, reform of which won't 
affect the education their kid gets.
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