the basic skills necessary to be productive in a modern industrial setting are increasing steadily. At the same time the national high school dropout rate continues to increase as dose the number of high school graduates who are functionally illiterate as dose the number of high school graduates who are functionally illiterate in spite of their diploma. This means that while the number of high skilled jobs in modern industry is increasing, the number of people able to fill them is on the decline. The impact this will have on industry in the United States can be summarized as follows: