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DELOITTE SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS DISCORD BETWEEN EXECUTIVES AND EDUCATORS ON ROLE BUSINESS CAN PLAY TO IMPROVE THE U.S. EDUCATION SYSTEM

Disagreements Stem from Businesses' Role in Developing Curricula and Setting National Education Standards

NEW YORK, November 12, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — While an overwhelming majority (81 percent) of academics and business executives believe the quality of the U.S. education system would improve if businesses took a more active role, the two audiences have opposing views on exactly how businesses can aid in the improvement process, according to the findings of the "Deloitte 2008 Business in Education" survey.

A mere 12 percent of educators think that businesses involvement in curricula development would definitely provide improvement, compared to 41 percent of business executives. Similarly only 14 percent of educators say businesses should definitely help set national standards, versus 42 percent of executives who say so.

While academics and business leaders disagree on businesses' role in education, the two groups do see eye to eye when it comes to education's impact on the economy. Over 66 percent of all respondents believe that the competitiveness of the U.S. economy will continue to be seriously jeopardized if businesses do not take a more active role in improving the U.S. education system.

News Facts

  • Seventy-one percent of all respondents believe that businesses should increase involvement in the education system.
  • Eighty-eight percent of business executives say that the quality of the education system would improve if businesses were more involved, 74 percent of educators agree with the same statement-however, the same exact amount (74 percent) of educators also says that businesses would use their involvement in education for self-serving purposes.
  • Interestingly, more business executives (52 percent) than educators (45 percent) say that the independence of our education system would be compromised if business were involved in education.
  • Similarly, 61 percent of business executives think there would be less focus on liberal arts and other non-business oriented disciplines if businesses were involved in education, compared to 51 percent of educators.
  • That said, educators think the best way for businesses to get involved is through financial contributions: Ninety-seven percent of educators say funding and monetary donations; 96 percent say establishing scholarships and 96 percent say donating equipment are the best ways for businesses to help improve the education system.
  • Offering pro-bono services, volunteerism by business executives and volunteerism by other employees, however, are not as highly ranked by educators: 86, 83 and 81 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, these are all fairly highly ranked by business executives, 90, 89 and 86 percent, respectively.
  • But, an overwhelming majority of educators (94 percent) are very enthusiastic about getting businesses to encourage their employees to get involved in education, and 76 percent of educators say that the best way to encourage employees to get involved is by offering better flexible time-off policies to volunteer.

Quotes:

The following are attributable to Barry Salzberg, CEO, Deloitte LLP:

  • Our future will be shaped by the success of our education system. As business leaders, we have an important role to play. More of us should tap our own business resources to the benefit of schools and students. It's an investment not just in education, but in our own ability to sustain a talented workforce and preserve our competitiveness in the global economy.
  • So what do educators want from business? The simple answer is-financial support. Donations. Scholarships. Endowments. In short, only the most traditional kind of aid. While that's all good, we need to go beyond financial aid to address the educational challenges we face in our country today.
  • Educators acknowledge the potential benefits of working more closely with businesses. The challenge is to help improve our schools without impinging on the education process, compromising curricula or challenging the expertise of educators. I am confident that we can work effectively with parents and educators to identify the most effective ways businesses can help.
  • Our partnership with College Summit is one great example of how organizations can help make a positive impact on the improvement of education. Through this partnership, we are able to provide College Summit with monetary donations as well as pro-bono services that help them achieve their goal of increasing college enrollment rates among low-income students.

The following quote is attributable to Charles E.M. Kolb, President, the Committee for Economic Development (CED):

  • American business leaders know that our future workforce depends on a high quality education system. The CED has actively involved business executives in improving and reforming education for over 60 years. We have worked with major companies to improve early childhood education, foreign language education, and programs in mathematics and science. The Deloitte survey findings reinforce our belief that business leaders have much to offer to educators and notes that there is some conflict between educators and business leaders on how to best involve companies in the U.S. education system. I think we can all agree that business can do more and be a positive force in the effort to improve our schools.

Barry Salzberg is addressing the National Chamber Foundation today to unveil this survey. Please visit: http://www.uschamber.com/ncf/deloitte.htm for more details. Please click here for the full text of his remarks.

Methodology

Opinion Research Corporation of Princeton, N.J., conducted this online survey on behalf of Deloitte LLP from August 8 to 18, 2008. The survey was conducted among 300 business executives including VP's, Sr. VP's, Executive VP's, Presidents, CEO's, COO's and CFO's and among 300 educators including college professors, college administrators, high school teachers and high school administrators. For complete survey methodology, please contact Rae Logsdon at 203-708-4806 or Cecilia Coakley at 201-964-2395.

About Deloitte

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.