ABSTRACT
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently reported that in many industrialized nations, the educational system is not as effective as it should be in producing young adults with the competence needed to meet the demands of contemporary society, particularly the world of work (Benton & Noyelle, 1992). While acknowledging the paucity of trustworthy data, the OECD estimated that about one third of workers could do their jobs better if they were more literate. In one survey, about one third of Canadian firms reported serious difficulties in introducing new technology and increasing productivity because of the poor skills of their workers.
