Rolf A. Sivertsen is principal of Midland (CUSD 7) High School in Varna.

If public education doesn't change in the United States within the next 10 years, it is possible that our country will lose its world status as an economic and technological leader.

Every year, China graduates 700,000 engineers and India graduates 400,000. In contrast, the United States only graduates 72,000 — half of whom are foreign-born. However, the most alarming fact is that a huge trade imbalance has materialized between the U.S. and emerging countries. Through the port of Long Beach alone, the U.S. annually imports $36 billion in goods. In contrast, again through that port, we only export $3 billion in goods.

"We export cotton, we import clothing," said Yvonne Smith, communications director at the Port of Long Beach. "We export hides, we bring in shoes. We export scrap metal, we bring back machinery. We're exporting wastepaper, and we bring back cardboard boxes with products inside them."

As a result, large retailers, such as Wal-Mart, currently import as much as 85 percent of their products from China. China, among other emerging countries, has an inexhaustible source of cheap labor that produces inexpensive goods for the U.S. economy. In fact, if every job in America was exported to China, the Chinese would still have a labor surplus. In contrast, the U.S provides China with capital, technology and innovation, resulting in a trade imbalance of $500 billion.

From a historical perspective, this enormous trade imbalance creates a potential for economic catastrophe. A large trade imbalance could create apprehension among foreign investors in the U.S. economy. As a result, foreign investment within the U.S. would decline, resulting in an erosion of the monetary exchange rate, and a rise in interest rates, which could cause an economic recession not only in the U.S., but globally.

Evidence of that scenario is beginning to surface. In 2005, AT Kearney, a global management consulting firm, ranked China and India as the most attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) locations in the world. Kearney attributes China and India's FDI success to "lower costs, higher-quality labor, protection of intellectual property rights, reliable educational systems and sophisticated IT infrastructures." What should be the United States' response to globalization and emerging economies?

In order to compete with emerging economies, the U.S. needs to provide all students with a globally competitive education. Incredibly, public schools in this country are still agrarian-based organizations where little has changed since the late 19th century.

Students attend school 180 days a year, six hours a day, and are often subjected to an unchallenging and boring curriculum. If these trends continue, the U.S. risks loss of world-wide dominance in science, technology, engineering and innovation. What is the answer to this sad and potentially catastrophic educational dilemma?

School reform should be the highest priority in this country. As citizens, we are doing a huge disservice to our children. In the 2003 Program for International Assessment (PISA) study, U.S. students scored 24th out of 29 countries in basic math literacy. Equally alarming, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported in 2005:

• The percentage of students performing at or above "basic" decreased from 80 percent in 1992 to 73 percent in 2005; the percentage of students performing at or above "proficient" decreased from 40 percent to 35 percent.

• White and black students were the only racial/ethnic groups to show a statistically significant change in reading performance, scoring lower in 2005 than in 1992.

• The gaps between white and black students and white and Hispanic students were relatively unchanged since 1992.

• Both male and female students' scores declined compared to 1992; the performance gap between the genders widened with females outscoring males.

• Sixty-one percent of high school seniors performed at or above the "basic" level, and 23 percent performed at or above "proficient."

• Asian/Pacific Islander students scored higher than students from other racial/ethnic groups, and white students scored higher than their black and Hispanic counterparts.

• Males scored higher on average than females overall and in the "number properties and operations" and "measurement and geometry" content areas.

Finally, a survey of human resource managers by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills recently revealed:

• Almost 70 percent believe high school graduates fall short of critical thinking skills.

• 81 percent believe high school graduates are deficient in written communication.

• Almost one third reported they will reduce their hiring of employees with just a high school diploma.

• 42 percent report they will hire more employees with advanced degrees.

With these statistics in mind, how do we, as citizens, reform education?

Never in the history of our country has educational reform been so important. Our country needs to eliminate the absurd agrarian-based school calendar and instructional day. Most importantly, the level of instruction must change and a national action plan should be implemented to reform our public school system. The following has been suggested by the Business-Higher Education Forum to improve math and science education:

• Each state should establish a K-16 council composed of policy leaders, business leaders and educators to develop policies to improve student achievement in math and science. Each council should develop a shared vision, plan, policy coherence, program coherence, program coordination, resource alignment, evaluation and progress reporting procedures.

• All K-16 councils should be aligned on a nationwide basis. The councils must set content standards for all students — not just those excelling in math and science. In addition, a national curriculum in math and science should also be developed for all students and be built on a set of national standards for students at all grade levels.

• Student assessments should be developed in math and science. Assessments should be aligned with national standards and not assess trivial or irrelevant skills. Assessment should be used to measure progress and drive intervention — not punish school districts. Longitudinal tracking of student performance should be implemented that would measure the value-added of changes in instruction.

• All schools should have qualified and competent teachers. Collaboration among post secondary educational institutions and high schools should be a priority.

Likewise, the following changes should be implemented in school curriculum and instruction:

• Teach crucial foreign languages — public schools should create a compelling foreign language program that introduces languages at the elementary level. In addition, students should be immersed in the language experience and reinforced throughout their academic careers. Students should study Hindi, Farsi, Chinese and Arabic languages to provide an education that is globally competitive.

• Create a three-year high school experience. In 2001, the National Commission on the High School Senior Year recently suggested that students be allowed to leave high school after their junior year to attend college or vocational schools. The 29-member panel described senior year as a "lost year" since most students complete the majority of their graduation requirements by their junior year. To facilitate the process, the panel suggested that secondary schools recognize college credit for seniors at universities or community colleges during their last year in high school. Making high school a three-year experience would lower college expenses for families, create more opportunities and allow students to enter the job market sooner.

• Bring the world into schools by creating schools with an international theme that provide a curriculum that includes global awareness, international financial literacy, critical languages, international civic literacy and critical thinking skills.

• Gauge student achievement with international assessments. The only effective way to gauge the global student knowledge base is by assessing achievement with international benchmarks. For example, students should complete TIMMS (The International Mathematics and Science Study), PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) and PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) assessments. This will provide a true snapshot of student achievement.

• Extend the school year and hours of instruction. The United States is the only developed country in the world that still maintains a 180-day instructional calendar. In Europe, students attend school 210 days a year, in Japan 220 days, and in China 230 days. The length of the instructional day is also extended.

It is hard to envision the United States assuming a secondary role in engineering, economics, innovation or technology. However, the country that placed man on the moon, created nuclear energy and invented the light bulb faces a wide array of urgent international challenges.

If our country does not immediately face these challenges, our citizens could be relegated to a diminished quality of life for generations. The time to act is now to preserve our status as a world-class economic power.

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