Keeping the dream alive.

FRUSTRATED BY THE WORK FORCE AMERICAN SCHOOLS ARE TURNING OUT? WORRIED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN COMPETITION? WONDERING HOW THE AMERICAN DREAM CAN SURVIVE IN AN EDUCATIONAL ATMOSPHERE BUILT ON CYNICISM AND DESPAIR? HERE'S ONE ANSWER THAT'S PAID GREAT DIVIDENDS FOR BOTH ITS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTICIPANTS.

Recent White House initiatives have called upon the private sector to participate more proactively in volunteerism, particularly in helping our nation's youngest citizens. But to date, those well-intentioned goals and highly publicized summit meetings have left corporate leaders with few specific or practical ways to participate, either personally or through their companies.

There already exist, however, a number of proven approaches and successful volunteer programs that address the President's challenge. For example, by taking a leadership role in local school-to-career transition programs, chief executives can help the country in two important respects: first, by securing its long-term economic future through development of a competitive work force, and second, by keeping the American Dream alive in its high school students.

An underlying problem in too many of our schools involves the weak connection between what happens in the classroom and what's required for success in the outside world. As demand accelerates for specialized knowledge in the workplace, it becomes increasingly difficult for high school graduates without marketable skills to get a foot in the door with prospective employers. In addition, the proliferation of drugs and alcohol in society, combined with the disintegration of the traditional family structure, have made it tough for parents or teachers to motivate students.

With few positive role models and limited job prospects, it is not surprising that many students simply give up by dropping out of school. With no context for learning, and little hope for their future, the long-term value of education loses out to short-term gratification - which might mean joining a street gang or becoming a teenage mother.

Apart from the immediate impact on the lives of individual students, their families, and the communities in which they live, this inherent weakness in our schools hinders the ability of American companies to build qualified, efficient work forces and to produce high quality goods and services. In turn, this erodes our nation's ability to compete on a global basis.

Back in the '70s, faced with a growing number of students either unprepared or unwilling to meet traditional academic expectations, educators began to rethink secondary school education in an attempt to make schools more relevant. Curricula were revised, and work/study programs were created to demonstrate the "real world" value of academic studies. Though those efforts had some impact, the nation's drop-out rate has remained at levels that are clearly unacceptable for a nation seeking to maintain worldwide economic leadership.

Out of that reform movement, however, a unique approach was developed that continues to hold great promise for many of America's disenfranchised students. This educational model refocuses the notion of traditional vocational schools by integrating "basic studies" with industry-specific knowledge and career-oriented training. The key element of this initiative - which is school-based - involves working partnerships between public schools and the private sector.

In 1980, consistent with the direction education had taken in the '70s, and fueled by the increasingly urgent need for a qualified work force within the rapidly expanding financial services industry, the New York City Board of Education and Shearson Loeb Rhoades, in cooperation with the American Federation of Teachers, began to discuss development of a prototype program - called the Academy of Finance (AOF) - to prepare high school students for careers in financial services.

The program's rapid growth over the past 15 years serves as the most visible measure of its success. The first Academy of Finance program began with 35 students in 1982 at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn. Currently, there are more than 7,000 students enrolled in AOF programs in 114 high schools, representing 64 separate school systems across 26 states. In 1996 alone, more than 1,500 business partners participated in AOF programs nationwide, including the likes of BankAmerica, Coopers & Lybrand, Merrill Lynch, and NationsBank.

As part of their regular high school studies, AOF students take up to three specialized courses each semester that have been developed by leading educators and recognized financial services industry experts. (The Fannie Mae Foundation, for example, funded a multi-year grant to develop materials and programs with an emphasis on mortgage financing.) A computerized management system allows participating AOF high schools to access their curriculum via computer, providing up-to-date information, and enabling teachers to customize lessons and activities. Teachers, as well as local AOF program directors and school administrators all participate in ongoing training programs, including an annual four-day conference consisting of workshops and seminars, in order to ensure appropriate and consistent application of the Academy curriculum.

This highly structured classroom instruction is integrated with workplace experience which includes paid summer internships as well as ongoing personal guidance from adult "mentors" who serve as role models and career counselors. These mentors are volunteers from large and small financial services companies - drawn from all levels of the corporations - who devote time working with individual students in the office environment, or lecturing AOF classes on topics related to their areas of expertise.

The AOF program provides an introduction to all facets of the financial services industry - ranging from economic theory to navigating the Wall Street Journal, from exposure to current technologies to immersion in such real-world environments as major stock exchanges, retail and institutional trading desks, and multi-million dollar back-office operations. In some locales, students have the opportunity to earn college credit for their AOF studies while they are in high school.

Historically, more than 70 percent of AOF participants are minority students and 60 percent are women. Virtually all AOF students graduate from high school and more than 90 percent go on to college - often through the numerous scholarships awarded through the Academy, funded by participant business partners at the local level.

During their college years, many former AOF students continue to work part-time in the financial services industry, and a great percentage return to related jobs after graduation. Most often, those job placements directly result either from having industry-specific knowledge and experience or are based on the personal relationships students establish with their mentors and at the companies where they served as interns.

In New York City, the success of the AOF in motivating students, and in providing them with a well-defined career direction, led to the creation of the High School of Economics & Finance in 1993 - a 600-student public school dedicated to financial studies and modeled largely on the AOF concept (and where I lecture on occasion). Featured recently in Business Week as one of 10 "New American High Schools," recognized by the Departments of Education and Labor (two other schools with AOF programs also earned that distinction.), the High School of Economics & Finance currently has more than 4,000 applications for 175 seats in its incoming 1997 freshman class - a level of demand equal to New York City's most prestigious and selective public schools.

In 1987, the New York City and Dade County public school systems joined together to capitalize on the success of the Academy of Finance by launching The Academy of Travel & Tourism (AOTT), designed to prepare students for careers in a U.S. service industry that will require 24 million additional trained workers by 2000. AOTT now includes 78 schools and involves more than 4,500 students; more than 500 travel-related companies participate as business partners.

Recognizing that the Academy concept had even wider potential and could expand beyond finance and tourism, the National Academy Foundation (NAF) was established in 1989, through a significant grant from the American Express Foundation, to oversee development, management, and expansion of Academy programs nationwide. To guide the organization and continue its legacy of public/private participation, a board of directors was created. Under the direction of such noted business leaders as Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. (senior partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld), Jonathan S. Linen (vice chairman, American Express) and James A. Johnson (chairman and CEO, Federal National Mortgage Association); as well as leading educators such as the late Albert Shanker (president, American Federation of Teachers), James P. Comer, M.D. (professor of child psychiatry, Yale University) and Floretta Dukes McKenzie, Ed.D (president, The McKenzie Group), the National Academy Foundation has flourished. In 1989, the Academy of Public Service was introduced. This year, the number of NAF students in all three programs totals more than 12,000 in 202 high schools in 30 states and D.C.

The success of the Academy program, however, goes far beyond its rapid growth rate. Success is better measured by the personal experiences of thousands of graduates, such as one young Hispanic woman who entered the AOF as a teenage mother in San Francisco and today balances motherhood with a college education and a part-time job at Charles Schwab & Co. Or perhaps success can be measured by AOF graduate Yuman Chan, who at age five arrived penniless with his family from mainland China, and following graduation from Boston University last year, landed an analyst position at American International Group in New York. Or it may best be measured by AOF graduate Manuel Colero, a Nicaraguan immigrant whose current life on full scholarship at Wharton is in stark contrast to his fight for survival on Miami's toughest streets.

Business community mentors - the volunteers who serve as the heart and soul of the initiative - also benefit personally from their partnerships with Academy programs. One example is Steve Moss, who heads up credit risk analysis at American International Group in New York and has served as an Academy mentor for nearly 10 years. He speaks with enthusiasm and pride about his AOF students, including Yuman Chan, whom he hired last year. According to Steve, "AIG's commitment to the AOF program goes far beyond good corporate citizenship." As a senior manager, he notes that the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of Academy students continues to increase AIG's awareness of circumstances and needs outside the button-down corporate world.

And endorsements for NAF's school-to-career transition concept ring out from all sectors involved: Ralph M. Murakami, district superintendent for the Department of Education in Maui, HI, for example, claims, "The Academy has opened the door to opportunities that were previously unavailable to our students ... and teaches them to look at furthering their education to enhance their career options. The Academy is a model for career development in the high school curricula."

Jim Petrus, managing director of the Century Plaza Hotel and Tower in Los Angeles, notes that, "Aligning ourselves with NAF gives us the ability to reach out to students who are already very enthusiastic about our industry. The hands-on orientation creates a great learning experience, not only for the students, but also for the members of our staff who take great pride in mentoring these potential future business associates." And 1989 AOF graduate Benjamin Pitts, who performed his internship at Alex. Brown & Sons, received an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and an M.B.A. from Wilmington College, and is currently employed as a manager at Provident Bank of Maryland, recalls, "Looking back, I see a shy, timid child. But my Academy teachers and business supervisors saw something in me and helped me gain the knowledge and self-esteem that I needed in order to succeed in the financial services business."

The principles that have guided the Academy since its inception are not, by themselves, unique to it. But, in concert, they've worked well and do, I believe, serve as a model for other programs that business, working with educators, can develop. The underlying philosophy for this program is designed to:

* Present a specific body of knowledge. Students learn core skills and knowledge, as well as the real-life issues, challenges, and opportunities related to a specific industry.

* Allow students to experience the workplace. Under the guidance of adult mentors, they see, hear, and feel business life on a first-hand basis, and can apply what they have learned in the classroom.

* Teach survival skills. From their school and business mentors, students also learn a range of practical skills, including personal communication, critical thinking, and even rudimentary career-building skills such as how to tie a necktie.

* Treat teachers as partners. Working with industry mentors, teachers are provided with the industry-specific knowledge, technology, and skills necessary for them to prepare and motivate students, inside and outside the classroom.

* Accentuate the positive aspects of being different. Effective school-to-career programs create strong peer groups, or "gangs," complete with their own set of positive expectations, rituals, and rewards.

* Plug students into society. Students are provided with an opportunity to demonstrate their potential value to employers, to collect resume-building experience, and are motivated to seek higher levels of academic achievement.

* Give students a stake in their future. School-to-career programs teach students that they are capable of achieving personal goals and can become successful members of society.

NAF is not a panacea for the many challenges facing our public schools. When properly constructed and managed, however, school-to-career partnership programs can be win-win endeavors in every respect. Schools gain motivated students. Businesses gain qualified employees. Volunteers gain the satisfaction of helping others. Communities gain productive citizens. Our nation gains as a global competitor.

Most importantly, students gain the self-confidence and incentive to reach for the stars - which is what the American Dream is all about.

Sanford I. Weill is chairman and chief executive of New York-based Travelers Group. He also currently serves as chairman of the board of the National Academy Foundation.