Parents: Hold Yourselves Accountable for the Skills Gap

And let’s put an end to complacent, dysfunctional academia

Thu, 03/08/2018 - 12:03

Employers can’t find people with the skills needed for the today’s workplace, because high schools and universities fail to teach students useful job skills. The skills gap is a decades-old and well-known problem that will remain unsolved unless we flip priorities not only in our school systems but also in parenting.

I’ve never seen the logic in parents entrusting their children’s education to our school system. That seems to encourage parents to shirk their responsibility to foster their childrens’ learning abilities. In this article I’ll share ways that parents can better-prepare their children for adulthood in the 21st century. But first, here are reasons why so many parents no longer hold onto their trust in our educational system.

As a kid I thought, “Why should school officials decide what I am taught? How can they know what’s best?” In my opinion they didn’t know then, and they don’t know now.

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Comments

I will not address the asinine "college for everyone" mantra, except to comment that it has, in all likelyhood, discouraged more students than it has encouraged.

Unfortunately, for too many schools, the process of "education" is to get the appropriate boxes checked (i.e. "X" percent pass standardized test "Y", by a date certain), and maintain dicisplinary suspensions or expulsions as near zero as possible. (Hence the oxymoronic concept of "in school suspension" and "alternative schools".)

Equally unfortunate is the fact that so many parts of everyday life are too technical for "tinkering" There was a time when you could take some tools and spend some quality time under the hood of an automobile, get some gunk under your fingernails, and get a sense of accomplishment while learning.

In order to revitalize that part of the learning process, I would set forth the proposition that return of the vocational arts to schools is critical. Shops equiped with basic, hand operated machines, not high end, ultramodern CNC. The students would be removed from their cyberworld, learn that much of what they have learned in the abstract has application, learn planning, critical thinking, and teamwork, and, with any luck, gain a sense of accomplishment.

Submitted by Bill Pound on Thu, 03/08/2018 - 15:01

Thank you for this article.  Much of the educatiional process today seems best suited for those who want to work for the government.  This seems true at all levels, and in both public and private schools.  Even those who study STEM subjects get brainwashed.

I have degrees in Engineering Physics, Operations Research, and a PhD in Industrial Engineering obtained in 1966.  Interviewing for private sector work I was asked which of my professors had 15 years experience outside academia.  The answer was none, and I did not get an offer from that particular company.  All but two of my fellow PhD's simply moved to a different university and started teaching.  After ~40 years in manufacturing I applied for a teaching position in Industrial Engineering and was first told I would have to take an exam to become a registered engineer.  Then I was told that despite my extensive education and work history they could not offer me a job because they required an undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering.  This does not demonstrate critical thinking or customer orientation.  It smacks of political correctness and a desire for union style power.

I look forward to a slow but needed revolution in educatiion.

Amen Bill! You are so correct, change must happen... preferably reformation, as opposed to revolution.

I graduated in the same era, but was lucky enough to have some professors who actually had real world experience. With one notable exception, all the full professors were PHD's, without nonacademic experience, and the assistant prof.'s were masters degree and had experience in the private sector. Needless to say, I learned far more from the assistant prof.'s.

I also noticed a degree of bias from full professor's,apparently based on the fact that I had transferred from a two year institution and, worse still, having actually worked in industry, might presume to question certain points.

As I consider that experience, perhaps a new model where faculty "intern" in the private sector on a frequential basis would be a good start.

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