Although SAT scores have been the falling barometer of U.S. public education, the real storm lies beyond the borders of the country, in a global arena where America’s students will compete with Germans, Japanese and Eastern Europeans for the jobs and markets of the future.

According Dr. Willard Daggett, an education reformer who spoke in Bangor this week, American students’ prospects are sinking because they are being prepared by an educational system that was adequate for a mill-and-manufacturing job market that existed here 40 years ago, but which disappeared in pieces over the past two decades.

Dr. Daggett, like any outspoken critic of the status quo, has his disciples, and also his detractors, but there is a truth in his message that school boards, businessmen and education administrators cannot ignore: public schools are missing the boat with up to three quarters of high schools students, the general studies and non-college-bound pupils, who are leaving high school unprepared even for entry-level employment.

These students can’t compete for jobs because they lack essential skills, not only in the mastery of basic subjects such as English, mathematics and the sciences, but also in the concepts of marketing, job performance and critical thinking that must become part of the public school curriculum.

Over the years, Maine effectively has exploited its pool of unskilled labor. Non-college-bound students historically made a smooth transition from school to woods or mill or shoe factory. Those jobs are long gone, but the basic curriculum, attitude and educational approach of the public schools has not changed.

Statistics and experience explain why unskilled labor one day demanded $10 an hour at a Maine mill window. In 1950, 60 percent of the U.S. labor force was hired unskilled, and trained on the job to do repetitive tasks. Today, with most of Africa making 50 cents an hour, and manufacturing technology easily exported, unskilled U.S. labor is far too expensive. It is expected to represent just 15 percent of the country’s workforce by the end of the year 2000.

The task of adjusting the public education system is monumental. It will require significant changes not only in what children are taught, but also in the way educators approach the art of teaching.

It is a goal that for the most part will be met incrementally, but it offers opportunities for regions to take major steps that can produce immediate and dramatic results:

Vocational high schools in Maine should become a more important part of the education process. In Bangor, the new administration at the Southern Penobscot Regional Vocational High School can transform that educational appendage into a integral part of this area’s new educational program. The school is a fine facility. It has an excellent staff. All it needs is a mission.

Businessmen should become involved in public education. The business community has cranked up the volume of its message that it is very unhappy with the quality of high school graduates. Local schools and industry both would benefit if businessmen offered specifics, giving practical guidance to local schools. This requires structure. School boards should consider establishing advisory committees of businessmen to work with educators in developing programs that would make local education more relevant to the marketplace.

The competition is global, but the challenge to education begins here at home.