Memo to business leaders: tune in to our televised town hall meeting on education.

If you agree with me that education is our region's best investment, I urge you to mark your calendar for Thursday, April 19.

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That's the date the Detroit Regional Chamber will present a one-hour television program exploring how we as business leaders, educators and parents must prepare our students for the realities of the global economy. The program will be televised live on Channel 7 from 8 to 9 p.m., and DVD copies will be widely distributed to homes, schools and community organizations across the Detroit Region.

We are producing this special town hall-style program in collaboration with WXYZ-TV and the DTE Energy Foundation. It builds on a conversation that began during our 2006 Mackinac Policy Conference, where we examined the critical role education will play in the 21st century economy. The primary goal of this program is to get this message--loud and clear--to parents.

By now, I think most of us in the business community understand that a post-secondary education--whether a four-year or two-year college degree or specialized training--is absolutely vital in the new economy. Gone are the days when a student could graduate from high school and expect to get a secure, good-paying job in a factory.

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure this message is getting through to parents. A recent study conducted for the Your Child coalition revealed that more than a third of the parents surveyed did not believe that people with a college education have a better shot at success than those without. To me, that illustrates a serious "disconnect" from the real world.

Furthermore, I don't think parents are fully aware of the impact of the new Michigan Merit Curriculum signed into law last year by Gov. Jennifer Granholm (see page 35) and strongly backed by the Detroit Regional Chamber. Michigan now has some of the most rigorous high school graduation requirements in the United States, and it's up to parents to make sure their children don't get left behind.

Another goal of our television program is to share the good news about creative schools in Southeast Michigan, many of them in the city of Detroit. Several of these schools are profiled in this issue of the Detroiter, including Gompers Elementary School, identified by the Skillman Foundation as an outstanding performer in the Detroit Public Schools system; Loyola High School, a Jesuit-run school for boys with an innovative work experience program; and University Preparatory Academy, a charter school that offers a bold new educational model for urban youngsters.

These and other schools are on the front lines as we continue the transformation from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy. As business and community leaders, they deserve our full support because our future depends on their success in educating tomorrow's workforce.

Again, I urge you to tell your friends, your family members--and everybody who cares deeply about education--to mark your calendar for April 19 for this special television presentation.

Dennis Archer is chairman of the Chamber's Board of Directors.