A Generation Lost: The Urgent Need to Reinvent the Education System
Today, we are at risk of losing an entire generation of students. Overall undergraduate enrollment has fallen by 4.4% compared to 2019, while community college enrollment has seen a 9.5% decline, and a 19% drop for freshman specifically. Community college dropout rates are also up to 40 percent, particularly alarming given in past economic downturns, these institutions have been the engines that fuel economic growth. These statistics mark lost economic mobility for millions. We have reached an inflection point in education, but out of this crisis comes massive opportunity. We can seize this chance for the education ecosystem to evolve.
Cengage’s inaugural LinkedIn Live discussion, from our new series EducationLive, was set against this backdrop. We brought together leaders focused on addressing inequities in education for a robust debate about how to reinvent the education system. I invited our newest board members, Alexandra Bernadotte, founder and CEO of Beyond 12 and Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF (United Negro College Fund), knowing their firsthand experience would be invaluable. Together, we highlighted the biggest challenges and inequities in education today, but most importantly, the opportunities for change.
The most enlightening part of the conversation for me personally was something I learned in the moment and will carry forward. I have been fond of saying “the American education system is broken” when reflecting on all the inequality and omnipresent obstacles for today’s students. During our discussion however, Alex raised the notion that these inequitable outcomes are not the result of a broken system, but the impact of a system that is functioning just as it has been designed. In her words, “higher education was designed to compound privileged…to open the path of opportunity for a select few, and close it for many others.”
This may seem like a small nuance, but thanks to Alex’s guidance I now believe it’s critical we shift the frame from “fixing the system” to rebuilding it. Any solution not rooted in a complete redesign will only continue to achieve piecemeal, minimal results. In my conversations moving forward, I plan to take this to heart as a way to galvanize boldness, and impact at scale. Small fixes will get us nowhere when the system itself is built on a bedrock of inequality, where the top students get the most opportunities at schools with the most resources.
The pandemic transformed education, and as a result there has never been a better time to completely reinvent the system. Losing a generation of students will not only impact our place in the global economy – it signifies that we are starting to lose the cohesion of our society. The solution lies in increasing accessibility, building in more accountability for the student’s ROI, shifting the employer mindset away from traditional degree requirements, and ultimately, rebuilding the system fundamentally in order to deliver job-ready skillsets for the 21st century.
To watch the entire Live discussion, click here. I plan to continue this important dialog with others in the education ecosystem and hope you will share your own ideas and thoughts on reinventing the system in the comments.
Cofounder of NewWay Educational Technologies | Communications Specialist | Social Media Strategist | Flight Attendant | Edtech entrepreneur helping schools to personalize learning.
3 年Have you ever thought about getting involved in the education data space? Perhaps we can talk sometime about how we can partner together and you can be the pioneer to help schools create more personalized learning programs using data and AI technology. Let’s schedule a Zoom call to talk.
Experienced government & public affairs professional
3 年This is a long overdue re-imagining of higher ed. A paradigm originally created to educate a coterie of elites cannot meet the needs of the future that must educate the vast majority of our population.
M.A.
4 年The U.S. needs to value quality over quantity, give students the opportunity to learn from failure, and stop pressuring students to think failure means they won't get into college or succeed.
Cofounder of NewWay Educational Technologies | Communications Specialist | Social Media Strategist | Flight Attendant | Edtech entrepreneur helping schools to personalize learning.
4 年Michael Hansen Yes the time is now to completely redesign our education system. Let’s schedule a call sometime so I can share with you how we are helping schools redesign the education landscape using our content learning App and our scheduling system built with AI technology so all students succeed.