Corporate America is well aware of the missing link. It spends $62 million a year to correct it. The deficiency is not a graduate's lack of technical expertise or competence in English or mathematics, although these are serious problems chat employers must deal with. It certainly is not the lack of a heavy dose of political correctness or muIticulturalism, the mind-game of educrats today.

What is the Number One deficiency among high school and college graduates, according to corporate managers) Social skills. "Give us someone with social skills," they cry. "We'll train the technical skills later."

This is nor to say that reading, writing, and arithmetic are not important. They are, very much so! Nor is it to say that computer skills, general knowledge, and technical expertise are not important. They certainly are. The problem is that the basic social skills that are necessary for success in life and on the job are not being emphasized in current academic curricula.

A new Johnston business, Tero International is working to help companies and schools provide just such social skills to their employees, and students.

Tero International, located in the Foxboro Square Business Center, has contracted with major corporations to correct deficiencies in social skills among their incoming employees since 1993. Tero president, Rowena Crosbie, says "Corporate executives would call me and say 'Come fix these people."' However, this is much easier done at the middle and junior high school levels.

Just last year, Tero began working with middle and high school students. "Our research shows that if we can help them develop these skills, they will not only be better equipped for the workplace someday, but better equipped to deal with peer pressure and the inadequacies they tend to dwell on during this critical time in their personal development."

Tero Learning Coach, Kyndra Wilson, has conducted extensive research in the area of social skills. She says, "A recent survey of 272,400 teens reported that fully 70% said that they've been depressed. And when they feel depressed they tend to avoid initiating social contacts and even responding to invitations from others. Others many feel snubbed by the depressed child's disinterest and sullen attitude and reject him or her as a result. And the experience of rejection from peers makes the depressed child feel like a social failure. .The child is then at risk of a low self-esteem and a pessimistic rendering of daily events. Without intervention, he or she will not have what it takes to be a success. In some cases, the child may attempt to get attention and form an identity through extreme behavior--even violence."

This was the motivation for Tero's development of the Outstanding In Life skills program for young people. "It's basically the same program that we use at the corporate level, except that it is geared for young people," said Crosbie. "We present it in a fun way that is appealing to them. In fact, I am wondering if we disturbed some of the classes next door when we conducted a pilot at Drake University."

So just what are these social skills that are so necessary in life and on the job. The Tero curriculum zeros in on the following: listening, presentation, handling emotions, resolving conflict, negotiating, expressing yourself, understanding yourself, thinking correctly, setting goals, dealing with negative influences, time management, self-esteem, purpose in life, reflective listening, overcoming defensiveness, appropriate assertiveness, team building, solving problems, managing conflict, manners, etiquette, self-esteem, taking risks, knowing how and when to lead, story-telling, doing what's right, creating community, ridding "in crowd" mentality, developing ideas, managing money, etc.

The program is not a talented and gifted program; rather, it is a Life skills program that everyone can benefit from. Classes are team-taught in five separate units lasting eight weeks each. Flexible and interactive, class sessions involve short lectures, group and individual activities, multi-sensory learning, creative self-study exercises, and innovative approaches to accelerated learning. All is taught from the student's perspective and is immediately applicable.

Last semester Tero started a program with Dowling High School. The classes were offered to all students and offered after the regular school day. lust last week thirteen Dowling students graduated from the programs personal developing communication section.

Amy Duffy of Des Moines called the class very helpful. "They taught us a lot of things," she said. "We learned how to get out of a problem without blowing up." Mike Risewick was particularly impressed with a demonstration of how stress works. "We got in a group and they (the instructors) began throwing in tennis balls until there were too many for us to handle."

Tero hopes to expand their Outstanding in Life program to other area schools. If this is something that you might wish your school to investigate, Tero International can be reached at www.tero.com or 515/727-1701. Tero is located at 6165 Foxboro Drive in Johnston.