Upward mobility in America in jeopardy, CEO says

News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch called for an overhaul of the U.S. education system to preserve the middle class and prevent the country from slipping further behind the rest of the world.

“The failure rates of our public schools represent a tragic waste of human capital that is making America less competitive,” Murdoch said Wednesday, October 6, at a Media Institute awards dinner in Washington, according to the prepared text of his remarks. “Upward mobility in America is in jeopardy unless we fix our public schools.”

Murdoch, an Australian native who became a U.S. citizen in 1985, said it’s imperative the U.S. measure its performance against the world and provide parents with more data about teacher performance to give them choice among schools. “Our middle-class way of life may disappear” if another generation goes through the current education system, he said. “In plain English, we trap the children who need an education most in failure factories,” said Murdoch, 79. Students who do graduate often do so with “worthless” degrees and others never learn the basic skills needed to provide for themselves, he said. Read more at Bloomberg News.