Preparing for the Next Job Market
The latest spike in the unemployment rate is being felt across the board ?in 98 percent of metropolitan areas, in high-wage and low-wage jobs, among young and old, women and men, but especially men．
This landscape means that young Americans who are trying to plan their futures right now have some hard choices．Do they go to college and take on debt without hope of getting a job? And what about high school students? Do they have any chance of securing a job without a college degree? Perhaps the education system needs to react to this rapidly moving economic crisis．
In our current economic collapse, the connection between education and employment could not be more different than it was during the Depression．Education must now hold center stage, not because of an enemy abroad but because of the global economy．The jobs of the future will demand levels of education, particularly skills in mathematics, technology and science, which exceed those now taught in high school．
A healthy society should strive for full employment．In our times, that goal cannot be realized, or even approximated by creating jobs for the unskilled．The long-term prospect for economic recovery depends on the extent to which we improve our educational system．And this is where America is now at its weakest．
Our high schools produce graduates who do not write well enough, have limited reasoning skills and are unable to use the tools of mathematics．Their command of science is far inferior to that of their counterparts in other nations．And all too many young people drop out．We may still have the best university system, but it benefits only a minority．
We will need more engineers, scientists and service providers, particularly in the health professions, with a quality of education that cannot be obtained in the current system．Radical change, not reform, is called for．
What should be done? First, high school should be cut short and end when students are 16．Second, a new generation of two-year college programs tied to a wide range of specific skills that the economy needs should be created．Third, access to four-year colleges should be expanded, giving more Americans the chance to acquire the deep learning that makes breakthroughs in technology possible．Fourth, we need to recruit more public school teachers and train them better, particularly in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics, so that our children can be prepared to compete．
Nowadays, students graduating from high school____．

A．write well enough

B．have limitless reasoning skills

C．can't use the tools of mathematics

D．command science as much as their counterparts in other nations

What should we do to improve the quality of education?

A．Students shouldn't study in high school until 16．

B．We should create a new generation of two-year college programs tied to a wide range of specific skills the economy needs．

C．We should limit access to four-year colleges．

D．We ought to recruit more private school teachers and train them better．

What does the word "collapse" in the third paragraph mean?

A．success

B．failure

C．development

D．booming

Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Young Americans planning their futures have difficult choices．

B．Education must hold center stage due to the global economy．

C．The best university system benefits a majority．

D．A health society should struggle for full employment．

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