American education -- or should I say the lack of American education -- is a major sore in society. There are many reasons for American decline. Not the least of which is the fact that the American work force is often uneducated, unmotivated and in many cases unemployable.

In the summers I work in a factory. It is probably one of the last actual manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania. The work is not highly skilled but it does require some independent thought.

The factory has a few job openings that pay reasonably well. With all the hype about unemployment in Pennsylvania one would think that the positions would have been filled immediately. On the contrary, the positions have gone unfilled for almost a year. Over the course of the year there have been about 30 applicants for the jobs. Of the applicants, 40 percent could not read and comprehend a newspaper. About 3 percent could read a tape measure correctly and less than 5 percent could add and subtract fractions. When faced with questions about the decimal system most answer with "I don't know anything about that." Another guy said, "Oh! I never had the metric system in school."

I was discussing the situation with a friend, who works for a produce company that is faced with a similar situation, and we stumbled onto an idea. In American high schools there seem to be two classes of students, those who care and those who don't. Those who care focus on academics and go to college or get a decent job. Those who do not care focus on parties and alcohol and end up not being able to read tape measures and add fractions. The lack of interest in academics makes many students just want get by in high school.

So what do we do? How do we motivate students to take their education seriously. Well, how about we change the drinking age? Instead of the drinking age being 21 we make it 18 plus a few requirements. If the requirements are not met then one would have to wait until 22 not 21 to drink legally. The most important requirement should be graduation from high school, which should include passing a basic skills test in math and English. Now don't get excited, let me explain.

If the drinking age were 18 and contingent upon a high school education, the less motivated students might take their work a little more seriously. It would give high school teachers real control over classrooms. Failing a high school class or dropping out would mean postponement of legalized drinking for four years. This penalty would be a strong tool when dealing with lesser motivated individuals. The very students who would most appreciate a lower drinking age are often the students who need a little motivation.

The drinking age could be used to encourage and create a more employable and productive work force. But admittedly there are some problems -- I see two in particular. The first is drunk driving. Eighteen-year-olds are not notoriously great drivers, especially if they are legally able to drink. I can hear Mothers Against Drunk Driving jumping out of their skins all over the country. Drunk driving could be curtailed if a very intense driver education course were made part of a high school education. Groups like M.A.D.D. and S.A.D.D. (Students Against Drunk Driving) could be allowed to run portions of the driver education program. In the long run this would be beneficial because it would give the groups a captive audience to hear their message.

The second foreseeable problem concerns the level of difficulty and the content of the high school proficiency test. The test should be made difficult. Some might argue that this is discriminatory because some schools are better than others. Well that is precisely the point. The test could be used to decide which schools need work and in what areas.

The test content should definitely include at least three main sections. First, reading comprehension. The test results could be helpful in the fight against illiteracy. Second, the test should have some basic math problems that are not too complicated: fractions, decimals, and some basic geometry. And third, an intense written driver's exam to fight the carnage on the highway.

This is just one possible solution to the problem of poor education in America representing a realistic perspective. While it's not the only answer, it's a start.

Remember, no one can do it for us. It's up to us.