4 Changes That Would Transform the Value of Higher Education
Debt relief for college graduates just became a reality. So, any action that can help new college graduates step into the world more quickly is a good thing. But, sadly, it does little to reinvent an educational system that is out-of-date, out-of-touch, and on the brink of imploding.
Let's highlight a few problems and explore solutions that would be culturally transformative and generate abundance for everyone.
In America, education continues to prepare our children for the Industrial Revolution. But, as change continues to accelerate, so does the need for updated mindsets and skills that contribute to thriving careers in the face of accelerating change.
Many of the world's greatest futurists and academic leaders predict that today's average graduate will change careers, not jobs, 4-6 times. Most tenured professors intellectually understand that but don't connect on an emotional level. But the indisputable fact about career and business change is that as it speeds up, so does our need to develop more excellent skills in connecting with the right people, building new support systems, and replacing dreaded pitch-selling with respectful and effective communications. Ironically, many academic leaders dismiss this vital necessity by calling it "soft skills." We call them courage skills because learning to use them often brings fear. But learning to use these skills results in greater confidence and far better income.
But we cannot find one law school that requires students to take business development and social networking courses.
Ten years ago, two law school graduates with equally good grades, presentation, and intelligence could get a lucrative job in our larger law firms. But the ones who made partnerships were almost always the ones that were strong with business development. For years, attorneys that were not interested or too afraid to bring in revenue could work as associates and make good but not outstanding incomes. But firms like LegalZoom turned that world upside down. Today, most prominent law firms require an associate with brings in 1 to 2Million in revenue just to be considered. The rest open private practices or continue to go to work as associates with striking reductions in income.
Higher education is rapidly encountering a genuine existential crisis. As we have democratized information and intelligence, so have the consumers, otherwise known as students. Larger and larger have stopped showing up for class. We taught them how to ace tests. They quickly learn what they need to know for that test, pass it, and move on.
Today, technology companies such as Google house more information than all the world's universities combined. Moreover, as search filters become more sophisticated, students can customize their learning programs at little or no cost. That ought to be a wake-up call.
We now have a more significant existential crisis in our elementary and secondary schools.
Over 20% of our teachers left the profession this past year. Common sense would predict that. Yet, for 2 ? years, we threatened them with termination and even jail if they didn't come back to live classrooms. All they wanted was the respect to give them the same level of safety the private industry gave to all of their employees.
The shootings at Columbine were enormous shocks to most of us. How could someone do that? Yet, two decades later, mass shootings have become monthly and weekly realities.
Our teachers watched in horror as shootings increased while meaningful safety was trivialized. Imagine how they felt watching first responders teach their students how to use trauma kits to try and save the lives of their classmates.
From David Harder:
"Losing our teachers isn't new. What is staggering are the numbers. Since 1990, several hundred teachers have participated in the Inspired Work Program. Almost all of them loved teaching. About a third have defined ways to change their mindset, return, and develop better support while the system plodded forward. Another group moved to better schools. But the most significant number recognized their skills were portable. They moved into creative fields such as film production, became professional writers, joined politics, or moved their teaching skills to learn in the private sector.
In watching them navigate through our program, all of them grieved over making changes to their teaching careers. Most of them viewed their roles as sacred. But, unfortunately, too many of us have treated them as expendable."
After All of The Ranting, What is the Good News?
If our suggestions make sense, use them for your benefit. But, if you want schools and political leaders that step beyond fixes, let's encourage political leaders that tell the American people how to use change to their benefit. Encourage meaningful changes in how our educational system produces our children for the new, not the old, world of work.
Here are a few suggestions:?
Broader Educational Alternatives
The United States has a narrow view of education compared to many of our global competitors.
Germany and Canada have the most well-thought-out educational strategies that keep employees current and relevant, especially during changes in culture and technology.
Germany has one of the best examples of apprenticeships to support career changes and continued economic growth. Many countries treat apprenticeships as thoroughly respectable ways to make effective career changes. In addition, the government provides tax incentives to help fund the roles and employers prepare new talent in growing industries; indeed a win-win relationship.
For the time being, we suggest taking the initiative and exploring all the options before moving forward with an investment.
Mentorship
Mentorship has had a long, rather extraordinary track record of turning solid citizens into stars. One of our favorite stories is how Nat King Cole discovered a young singer in Seattle making a living impersonating him. His name was Ray Charles. Cole helped him develop a personal style, encouraged him to let go of the guy's terror in writing his songs, and only when ready, introduced him to Ahmet Ertegun, the legendary CEO of Atlantic Records, which put R & B on the map. Now so wildly successful, Ray Charles met a brilliant young trumpet player named Quincy Jones, a stand-in at a New York concert. By taking Quincy under his wing, Ray Charles opened the door to one of the two most influential mentors in music for the last 50 years, Quincy Jones and David Foster.
We are working towards opening a mentorship community. But the need is so great; encourage mentoring to our political leaders and educational institutions, and on a profoundly personal level, look for great mentors before, during, and after school.
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Active Learning
It is time to stop treating education as a chore. We have conditioned our kids to look forward to graduation as a turning point where the chores are done; now, we can be adults.
A thirst for knowledge, a joy for learning, and ongoing curiosity are traits that led to the success of some of history's greatest icons. Today, active learning is a must for anyone working in a growing industry. Many companies look for active learners because they bring needed intelligence to the organization, have more positive relationships with the people around them, and are the last to get laid off.
The best way to fall in love with active learning is to do the work you love.
One of the primary ways we can change the mindset of chores to lifelong learning is to ask our schools to regularly share success stories from their ranks and people outside the organization.
Our schools desperately need to move from graduation signaling the end of education to one that signals we have become more skilled and enthusiastic about establishing lives of learning.
Connectivity
The average American commonly responds to thoughts of drawing attention to themselves with various forms of "They'll Hurt Me."
The ability to draw sustained healthy attention to ourselves used to be reserved for "them," celebrities, leaders, and politicians. But as the world sped up around us, that ability applies to anyone who wants a valuable and fulfilling life.
A recent conversation with a career administrator sums up the mindset.
"What is the most common question and need students have in their senior year?"
He responded, "When shall I start applying for jobs?"
He answered, "It's a good idea to get started in your last semester."
We proposed an alternate reality:
Suppose a student in their first or second year begins using workskunk connect, a free learning program, and uses the technology to build a professional community around their desired career. In that case, they will not be asking when to start interviewing. Instead, they will have a community filled with people to help them succeed. By investing a couple of hours a week, they will know more than their peers and have friendships that bring abundance to their careers while their peers are applying for jobs they don't want. In terms of practical education, there are no substitutes.
We have the technology to do all of this.
But the tools we had in the past need to be scrapped. For example, junk mail is now called spam. It takes about 12 million messages to produce one sale. It is delusional to consider that kind of support will improve our careers or our businesses.
In the beginning, social media platforms we developed to produce one primary outcome:
Relationships.
That is the great promise of education, intelligence, and initiative.
To surround our children with friends, mentors, teachers, and skill sets to have beautiful lives.
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