Reams of material have been written about the push in this country to reform our schools and make ourselves economically competitive -- and I've been a big contributor to this paper mountain. But one of the most perceptive comments on this effort that I know is the joke about the three friends -- an American, a Frenchman, and a Japanese -- who are captured by some natives while they are hunting in the South Seas.

As you probably remember, the natives announce that they are going to execute the three hunters but they will grant each if them a final wish. The Frenchman said he would like to sing his national anthem one last time, and he's told that his wish will be granted. The Japanese wants to give his famous lecture on competitiveness one last time, and the natives say that will be fine. When it's the American's turn, he thinks for a few minutes and then says, "I wish you'd execute me before I have to listen to that speech on competitiveness again!"

Many of us sympathize with the American. We're tired of hearing how the Japanese became world leaders and -- we fear -- left us behind in the dust. But that's the point. Though we talk about wanting to be competitive, we're still not ready to face up to what it will take.

What does this have to do with school reform? As we try to solve our competitiveness problems, we are putting great pressure on our schools to improve. And that's as it should be. But this misses a basic point about our workforce: 80 percent of the people who will be working in the year 2000 are already in the job. So even if we can turn our educational system around within the next decade, we won't have the qualified workers we need unless we can improve the knowledge and skills of the people already working.

There are many things we can do, but for now let's concentrate on high school dropouts -- the ones who are currently working and the ones who are looking for work. This looks like a tough place to start, but in fact we can get some good ideas about how to turn dropouts into effective employees by looking at some programs dating from the Great Society years.

One such program involved hiring dropouts as paraprofessionals in schools. In order to get the job, applicants had to promise to enroll in a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) program. This would prepare them for a set of examinations which, if passed, would give them the equivalent of a high school diploma. If they failed the GED exams, they, they had to continue attending evening classes and trying to pass the exams. If they quit classes before they got the GED, they lost their jobs.

In New York City, the incentive system for paraprofessionals become part of a career ladder program negotiated for the paras by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). This program encouraged paras who completed the GED not to stop there by providing incentives for them to go on to college. The program offered summer stipends to help support the paras while they were taking college courses, time off from work during the school year for those enrolled in college courses and salary increases for every year of college they completed. The result was impressive: Over the years, more than 11,000 New York paraprofessionals have gone on to get A.A or B.A. degrees, and since 1970, 2,000 of them have become teachers.

So contrary to popular wisdom, a number of Great Society programs did work: The program I've just been describing took dropouts and welfare dependents and helped them become productive workers. The government can do this kind of thing well - and should do more of it. But UFT' s initiative demonstrates that these programs can also flourish elsewhere, so why not create them in the private sector? Many employers hire dropouts. They could hire only those who agree to enroll in a GED program and to forfeit their jobs if they stop trying before they succeed.

But if employers are to institute a program like this, they need to know one more thing about why it worked in New York. Being frightened about losing your job isn't enough. New York paras succeeded because they got support from the other people in their schools: During their lunch breaks and at other times during the day, there were teachers who gave them encouragement and offered them help. The same kind of help could be offered by colleagues in almost any workplace. And companies could emulate New York in offering further incentives to employees who achieve their GEDs. Once the former dropouts find out what success feels like and start believing in themselves, employers could encourage further study by offering employees who are successful in it better jobs and higher salaries.

It's never too late, as the paras -- and the people who went to college under the GI bill -- have taught us. If we provide incentives and support, many of the dropouts in our workforce can complete high school and continue on in their education. And given the demographics, we have no choice but to build on the knowledge and skills of our current workers. Waiting for them to be replaced by those in still in school will take too long. We need to learn, at last, that we must invest in the people who are now in our workforce.