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What should the United States do specifically to close the skills gap?
An increasing percentage of the population lacks the skills to meaningfully participate in the modern economy. Can this be fixed and if so how? Please refrain from political rants. I am interested in specific proposals on how to fix the skills gap.
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3 Answers
There's been a disturbing trend in recent years where education in general and smart people in particular as the subject of disdain. One need only look at the "challenge" to climate change science to see that there is a cultural change underway in how we approach the idea of learning. In one generation, between the Kennedy challenge to the country to put a person safely on the moon through the creative use of science, and the rise of the intuition-based media, we seem to have lost our will to improve our abilities.
To fix the skills gap, it first requires the people of the United States to face the reality that without continuous improvement, our country will become increasingly marginalized from the rest of the world. It's not in our cultural DNA to think of ourselves other than number one, and that national psychic imperative can help us drive ourselves towards a period of skills improvement.
Next, change the educational system. I have two kids in public school now and to see the system up close is to marvel in how teaching can thrive amidst crushing bureaucracy.
Our kids are in school an average of 180 days a year, and up to 80 of those precious days are wasted by needless testing, preparing for standardized tests and cooling down from test weeks. Great teachers maximize the actual learning time for their kids and compel their students to want to continue to learn even after the class is over. The biggest way the education system can contribute to the long term health of our economy is to give students the love of life long learning and the tools with which to become more successful at it.
Finally, private enterprise must step in and realize this is a problem thats seriously affects their bottom line. From having less disposable income to spend on goods and services to being less prepared to serve in the work force, the population needs to be competitive on a global scale in order for our economy to succeed. Many more companies provide free parking and coffee to their workers than they provide opportunities for skills development. Companies must pick up their share of the work by providing continuous learning and skills development programs to all of their employees. This needs to be a basic benefit in the workforce.
I don't understand why there aren't more government programs to support vocational training.
I think that college is not for everyone, but having deep expertise in a single area is never a bad idea. If there were more government programs supporting 1-2 year vocational training in areas like nursing, IT, welding, and many others, that helps not only young people who don't want to go to college, but a lot of mid-career people who find they need to retool.
I've not heard any politician from any party highlight government backing for increased vocational training, and I don't know why.
Your question is simple, but solving can be complex. Here's why:
A number of factors are affecting achievement problems
Being able to effective and comprehensively address each factor can be time consuming because a number of the problems have even bigger problems inside of them.
Take for example more parental involvement. Bigger problem - parent has other priorities, so how do you motivate them to change? It goes on and on.
This does not mean nothing can be done. I mean there is always a place to start. Where you want to start obviously is the point that will give you either:
• an easy early success - this inspires people to continue. Then you select the next easiest problem. The downside is you can spend a life time trimming away at the problem.
• find out where the biggest loggerhead is at. That is what one problem if solved will best move forward to academic achievement.
My own opinion is this:
We are becoming infatuated with numbers - measuring things quantitatively. We are forgetting our major resource - people. Those closest to problem are not being solicited for information; or, they are not being solicited in the right manner.
Generally organizations, especially bureaucracies do things top down. They, the bureaucrats, read reports of what has worked, and they primarily look at numbers (in settling on an answer, tweaking the program, and measuring the outcome of a program).
Also they pass down accountability by providing more training etc. They never stop to see what they can change about their behavior or the organization's culture that may improve outcomes.
In other words information is only flowing and change is only happening in one direction - downward. Principals, teachers, parents, and students are the focus of creating change.
Very little is being done to encourage a communication exchange between immediate supervisors and subordinates; or to encourage horizontal (parent to teacher or teacher to teacher) exchanges of information about what is working, and what is not.
Perhaps an even bigger problem is that we are not facilitating thinking any longer. The more "canned" curriculum is becoming, and it is becoming significantly more scripted, the less intelligence is required of the teacher. Hence, they become less and less effective at making necessary adaptations.
Here's the bottom line before my comment turns into a rant: the necessary change will only happen those closest to the problem are heard. Then as changes are made it is important the open lines of communication stay open, so feedback and response flows easily.
Check out my blog I am going over some of this in my last couple of posts. The idea is by empowering subordinates through transformational leadership the organization as a whole is improved.
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