July 11, 2016 Dean Ore Office of Academic Programs Cecil College 1 Seahawk Dr. North East, MD 21901 Dear Dean Ore, I am sure you have seen the increasing decline in students that are college-ready, that do not require remedial classes. Businesses are also struggling with hiring employees that are unprepared in some of the basic educational skills needed to perform their duties efficiently. While studying this dilemma, I believe that I have formed a plan that could help remedy some of this problem. Businesses, schools, and colleges working closely with each other and students that are interested not only skilled trade, but also professional careers will produce a great advantage toward better-preparing our next generation for the future. According to the NEA, educational gaps are more prominent between both, ethnic groups and male or female students, and are widespread. According to Forbes.com, “Worldwide educational institutions are out of sync with employer needs. While 42% of employers believe newly educated workers are ready for work, 72% of educational institutions do. This is an enormous mismatch. Primary and secondary educational institutions are not keeping in touch with corporate recruiters and the needs of business (Bersin, 2012).” This means that schools and colleges see their graduates moving on to great jobs, appearing to be well-equipped to perform effectively, but the employers are stating that they are not as equipped as the schools and colleges
Colleges are struggling to adapt to society’s changing requirements for adults entering the work force. John Fawell laments this change and states that humans intrinsically desire to learn more for the purpose of knowing more. However, the focus has shifted away from this and has become more career-oriented. This shift is not well supported in the current college system. The education system is aware of this change and some have modified their programs, but they are too narrow and a broad college education is lost. Even though it has become almost mandatory in society, a college degree does not prepare students for a real-world work environment and is not necessary for most occupations. Many, such as lawyers or doctors, do require further education and a system that instructs them while also training the majority of the workforce would be an improvement.
A job requires skill and knowledge. Murray says, “ The increase in wealth in American society has increased the demand for all sorts of craftsmanship… work of specialized skills in stonework, masonry, glazing, painting, cabin making, machining, landscaping, and a dozen other crafts” (Murray 236). Murray says that college will not provide the skill set for these jobs. College is where. Murray wants these type of people with low academic ability to shoot for one job and not move from that occupation or move up the ladder. Sanford J. Ungar in “The New Liberal Arts” makes a counter argument saying “It is far wiser for students to prepare for change and the multiple careers they are likely to have than to search for a single job track that might one day become a dead end ” (Ungar 191). During the economic recession, many workers in the manufacturing industry were laid off without a guarantee that they would be rehired in the future or that their positions would still be available. Unfortunately some of these jobs will never come back because the positions have been modernized. Non-stop robotic arms have replaced humans in the assembly line, which have financially benefited the companies. The advancement in technology has brought the world to a state where skilled labor jobs are not needed as much as others such as jobs in computer information systems or computer networking. Ungar brings up Geoffery Grain, president of the Hart Research who says that the responsibility of higher education today is to prepare people “ for jobs that do not yet exist” (Ungar 191). Higher education will always be beneficial now or in the future, it will never be a
Dual enrollment, four year universities, community colleges and trade schools. I’ve seen people with college educations that have terrible jobs and no real prospects, and I’ve seen people without degrees, or with technical certificates, that are wildly successful and happy with the choice they made. Yet we continue to see the disparities between those that have vocational training or a two or four year degree, and those that do not.
The majority of the employers are expecting to hire graduates who can apply their skills and experience to increasing the overall performance of the company. As a result, having access to specific career training and accumulating some specialized skills is of huge significance to current students. The book, The New College Reality authored by Bonnie Snyder states that ?if I am smart and well educated, people will want to hire me, there may be some truth to this, but employers (like everyone else) are selfish; they only want to hire people who can understand that they are there to meet the organization?s needs? (Snyder 198). Graduates should be aware of specialized skills. Computer proficiency, office tools, and linguistic capabilities to satisfy the organization?s needs. Snyder points out that there are too many college graduates, and it is unlikely for the market to provide the corresponding number of job openings. College graduates having licenses and certification, for example teaching certificates and nursing registration are exposed to more opportunity for employment. Colleges should teach students more specialized skills for their future jobs. Because of the situation of today?s labor market. Colleges need to realize the importance of teaching specialized skills instead of putting their focus on academic courses. As a consequence, many
Another problem with our education system is that students are not taught technical nor business skills needed to succeed in the world today. The world is constantly changing, however, the education system is not changing along with it. According to Scott Gerber “While organizations like Junior Achievement (JA) educate students in work readiness and provide hands-on experience in financial planning for kids K-12,many of these programs are underfunded, and find it difficult to work within current infrastructures — even in situations where traditional system cannot offer other alternatives” ( “Here’s the Real Problem With America’s Educational System”). Students are not prepared to go into the work force simply because they do not obtain the right set of skills. The world is always advancing with new technologies and techniques. Gerber states in his article “Whether we’re training the next generation of entrepreneurs or entrepreneurially minded individuals, we must ensure our support systems catch up to the current-day needs of America’s workforce — or risk losing our standing as innovators” (“Here’s the Real Problem With America’s Educational System”). If students are not being taught the technical and business skills needed in the world today they will be unprepared for the future.
In todays workforce there are a lot of things that employers are looking for and most if not all students are not fully prepared for what will be expected of them. Tony Wager, Author of Rigor Redefined says, “Even our “best” schools are failing to prepare students for 21st-century careers and citizenship” (Wagner). It is a problem that has lead to studies of what hiring companies are looking for and what people are lacking. What we have found out is that the American educations system is letting our students down buy not teaching student what they need for success in todays global economy. Our school systems have been focusing on the scholastic side of educating our students and somewhat neglecting the more social skills that they also need to succeed. This is why we have college students with straight A’s but is physically afraid of public speaking or lake the ability to be an affective team leader in-group activity. We need to reevaluate how and what students are learning at all leaves of education so that we can produce better more prepared students that will be ready to hit the ground running in the work force.
Imagine that every high school senior in the United States was tested and then upon graduation assigned to a career based off of their score. Wouldn’t that be horrible? The world would be filled with people who hate their jobs. This is just a quick example of how a single test doesn’t define our future or who we are. Standardized tests like the SAT and ACT are extremely useful for college admissions officers but the tests are way too emphasized in the college process; this is why the exam makers should improve the exams so that the emphasis put on these exams matches the results it gives back.
Throughout our lives, we are asked about our future careers. When we are younger, this question is simply asked as “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. A few years later in high school, the question transforms into “What are you going to go to college for and where are you going to college?”. Once we are in college, the question is always “What is your major and what do you plan to do with it after college?”. All of these questions can be extremely nerve-wracking and confusing for those who have no idea what they would like for their future, have no support for working on future plans, or do not know what they true passion is yet. This is where school counselors come in to help. As a school counselor, I want to help every undecided, unsupported, decided and undecided student because having a future planned out is an amazing feeling and great accomplishment.
Graduation season is in full swing and here at UMKC the first ever class of bridge to college is graduating Friday, May 6th, 2016.
Schools and educators are faced with the tremendous task of preparing students to be successful in school and beyond in a fast-paced, ever changing world. Students will need more skills and higher levels of education and training than ever before in order to be successful. In 1973, only 28 percent of jobs required postsecondary education, whereas by 2020, 65 percent of jobs will require postsecondary education (Carnevale, Smith, & Stohl, 2010 and 2013).
1. I would like to enroll in the Senior Honors Program, because I think it will be an excellent way to complete my experience as a sociology undergraduate student at UC Berkeley. Since transferring to UC Berkeley in the Fall of 2015, many of the courses I have taken have focused on research and its importance to the field of sociology. The continued exposure to the diverse topics of sociological research, as well as the varied methods researchers use to collect their data, has shown me that many of questions I ask about the social world on a daily basis are potential sociological research projects. I find this fact to be inspiring as opposed to overwhelming, and I believe that the questions that I continually ask warrant further academic exploration. I want to participate in this program, because it will place me in an environment where I will be able to find academic answers to the questions that cross my mind regularly, and ultimately mold me into a more insightful and capable student.
The Fall of 2010 was about as normal as every other fall that preceded it. The leaves changed colors and the weather got colder. It also meant that school was back in session. To me, fall time meant athletics were back in season. I was entering 7th grade and I was bummed that summer was over but excited because I was almost a year older. I was about to turn thirteen years old; I could almost call myself a teenager. I had always participated in sports but this was my first year that I could play middle school sports. I tried out for the football team and made it. I officially was an athlete for my school and I could not have been more excited. I felt like I mattered. My relationship with my father was like any other. Or at least I thought. As the season went on, the only time he came to anything of mine was to pick me up from practice or after an away game; to make it worse, he never came to any of my games which disappointed me. But it never occurred to me that something was weird between us.
Education is not the only thing that is changing; the job market is also undergoing major changes. Jobs in today’s world are requiring a higher level of education. Colleges have yet to adapt their educations to include the necessary criteria that the job market requires. At the same time, college courses are being offered to amuse the student or help GPA scores to improve, instead of focusing on the
Recently I have questioned what university to attend, what to major in, and what career I want. Three years ago, I wasn’t even planning on attending college, I was just a high school student with no direction. Two years ago, I decided to begin my college career, and thought a business degree was in my future. One year ago, I realized that following my passion is the most important career choice I could make. Today I know that I want to attend the top tier research institution that is the University of Washington, and that I want to follow my passion and major in Environmental Science and Resource Management. I’ve also come to terms with, that while my career path is unclear, it will work itself out in time.
When I accepted my admission to Vassar, it was to pursue my second degree in dramatic arts. I came under the pretext that this was a “prestigious” program and that I would gain an immense amount of knowledge and experience as a drama student. Almost immediately I began to realize the many flaws within the dynamics of this department. Coming into the program you are required to take the intro course regardless of your theatrical experience. This requirement stands in your way of taking any other course in the department so it is a class that is a hot commodity. Somehow, in a class that originally had 39 students, only 3 of us were phenotypically Black. There can of course be other students who identify in this way, but their body does not read blackness the way mine and the body of my other 2 classmate do.