ABSTRACT
The changes in economic and political life in the last half century require commensurate changes in what students are expected to know and be able to do regardless of where these students live geographically or the environment in which they mature (Finn, 1991; Marshall & Tucker, 1992). The skills needed both to participate in civic life and to compete in the marketplace of today and the next century are grounded in technology: The scientific advances that have affected and, in many ways, improved the quality of economic and political life have also created challenges and decisions about our lives together in this society that only a highly informed citizenry can effectively confront and solve.
