Human Skills Portfolio Can Bridge Capital Gap (C. Sam Walls Commentary)

As a source of capital for businesses, the people associated with the Arkansas Capital Corporation Group tend to think in terms of capital.

We evaluate prospective borrowers’ potential to combine our money and their creativity to establish and grow a business. We look for evidence of an applicant’s assets: is a self-starter, makes good decisions, plans and organizes, and has the stamina to make his or her business ideas become reality.

Employers take a similar view of job candidates. They will invest in people who they believe will maximize corporate capital. Therefore, high school students need to think in terms of managing a personal portfolio of skills and knowledge.

Regrettably, most students don’t. If national figures are an indication, fewer than three in 10 Arkansas high school graduates complete a well-balanced set of courses that prepare a person to succeed in business or advanced studies. In 2001, three in five first-time college students in Arkansas had to enroll in at least one remedial course.

What sufficed 50 years ago, when only four out of 10 jobs required so much as a high school diploma, is inadequate in an era when 80 percent of the fastest-growing occupations require formal education after high school. A shortage of skilled employees could mean a yawning competitive gap for Arkansas businesses.

Economies of scale permit our largest employers to pay a premium for individuals with strong language arts, math, science and decision-making skills.

Small businesses, which produce the majority of jobs and nonfarm private gross domestic product, need people with similarly rigorous academic preparation to perform technical work and solve problems. Employers want workers who demonstrate an entrepreneurial attitude and a grasp of the big picture, often with very little supervision.

Therefore, it’s vital to encourage all students to set their sights high and complete at the least four years of math through and beyond Algebra 2, the three lab sciences — biology, chemistry and physics — four years of English, a suite of social studies courses that cover U.S. and world geography, government and economics, as well as two years of a language other than English.

The eight-year-old Arkansas Scholars initiative places business people in classrooms to draw a clear picture of the opportunities that await students who work hard and complete the right courses in high school.

Presenters explain the relationship between high school academics and future earnings potential. They encourage students who plan to enroll in vocational and technical courses to complete rigorous academic courses as well, because academics provide a foundation for workplace training and the flexibility to change careers. Presenters make sure students understand that a minimal diploma is not equivalent to completing rigorous coursework — because the research shows that nothing takes the place of students challenging themselves day to day and year to year in a classroom of motivated peers.

The good news is that between 1990 and 2000, students got the Scholars message. Completion of geometry increased from 60 percent of high school graduates to 88 percent; Algebra 2 from 48 percent to 71 percent; chemistry from 33 percent to 66 percent; and physics from 13 percent to 33 percent. The percentage of students going to higher education increased from 48.3 percent in 1990 to 59.4 percent in 2001.

If adults will continue to persuade an increasing percentage of young Arkansans to complete the entire Arkansas Scholars course of study, we will create two kinds of capital: a ready work force able to make our companies competitive around the globe and young citizens primed for success regardless of what they decide to do in life.

C. Sam Walls is chief operating officer of the Arkansas Capital Corporation Group, a group of private business development companies devoted to the growth of businesses and entrepreneurship in Arkansas.

Arkansas was an early adopter of the State Scholars Initiative, which operates in 13 states.