Narrowing the Skills Gap: A Social Research Project
David A. Lovato
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By David A. Lovato
“There appears to be a surplus of jobs waiting to be filled and not enough people trained to fill them. America’s jobless are becoming increasingly frustrated and scared. Meet what has become known as ‘the skills gap.’”
- Mike Rowe, TV Host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs
THE CHALLENGE
One of the most fundamental obligations of any?society is to prepare its adolescents and young adults?to lead productive and prosperous lives as adults. This means preparing all young people with a solid enough foundation of literacy, numeracy, and thinking skills for responsible citizenship, career development, and lifelong learning. For over a century, the United States led the world in equipping its young people with the education they would need to succeed. By the middle of the 19th century, as Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz write in their book, The Race between Education and Technology, “the U.S. already had the most educated youth in the world.” At the turn of the 20th century, just as Europe was catching up, the rapid spread of the “high school movement” helped the U.S. vault ahead again.
By 1940, the typical 18-year-old had a high school diploma, up from just 9 percent who had achieved this milestone in 1910. After World War II, the GI Bill helped usher in a huge expansion in higher education. As a result, members of the U.S. Baby Boom generation?far surpassed their counterparts in other countries in post secondary educational attainment.
Yet as we end the first decade of the 21st century, there are profoundly troubling signs that the U.S. is now failing to meet its obligation to prepare millions of young adults. In an era in which education has never been more important to economic success, the U.S. has fallen behind many other nations in educational attainment and achievement. Within the U.S. economy, there is also growing evidence of a “skills gap” in which many young adults lack the skills and work ethic needed for many jobs that pay a middle-class wage. Simultaneously, there has been a dramatic decline in the ability of adolescents and young adults to find work. According to Andrew Sum, Northeastern’s Center for Labor Market Studies reporter published a study in July 2010 that shows the percentage of teens and young adults who have jobs is now at the lowest level since World War II.
These problems have been building for years. In 1988, the William T. Grant Foundation published a report that called the then 20 million non-college bound youth “the forgotten half,” and warned: “they are in danger?of being caught in a massive bind that can deny them full participation in our society.” A decade later, the American Youth Policy Forum issued The Forgotten Half Revisited, and concluded that these ill-equipped young adults “have lost considerable ground versus their counterparts only a decade earlier.” Since then, there have been many other reports—such as the National Academies’ study, Rising above the Gathering Storm —that have sounded similar waning to this “coming storm”. Yet for all the attention, we have failed to take effective action. Meanwhile, the challenge has become increasingly urgent.
The “forgotten half” challenge has deepened with the growing importance of post-secondary education to succeed in todays labor market. In 1973, nearly a third of the nation’s 91 million workers were high-school dropouts, while another 40 percent had not progressed beyond their high school degrees. Thus, people with a high-school education or less made up 72 percent of the nation’s workforce. In an economy in which manufacturing?was still dominant, it was possible for those with less education but a strong work ethic to earn a middle-class wage, as 60 percent of high school graduates did. In effect, a high school diploma was a passport to the American Dream for millions of Americans, (Georgetown, Center on Education and the Workforce, Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018, 2010).
By 2007, this picture had changed beyond recognition. While the workforce had exploded nearly 70 percent to 154 million workers, those with a high school education or less had shrunk to just 41 percent of the workforce. Put another way, while the total number of jobs in America had grown by 63 million, the number of jobs held by people with no post-secondary education had actually fallen by some 2 million jobs. Thus, over the past third of a century, all of the net job growth in America has been generated by positions that require at least some post-secondary education.
Although labor market projections, like all economic forecasts, are inherently uncertain, I am struck by the work of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. The Center projects that the U.S. economy will create some 47 million job openings over the 10-year period ending in 2018. Nearly two-thirds of these jobs, in the Center’s estimation, will require that workers have at least some post-secondary education. This means, of course, that even in the second decade of the 21st century, there will still be job openings for people with just a high school degree, and even for high school dropouts. The message is clear: in 21st century America, education beyond high school is the passport to the American Dream. But how much and what kind of post-secondary is really needed to prosper in the new American economy?
The Georgetown Center projects that 14 million job openings—nearly half of those that will be filled by workers with post-secondary education—will go to people with an associate’s degree or occupational certificates. Many of these will be in “middle-skill” occupations such as electricians, construction managers, dental hygienists, paralegals and police officers. While these jobs may not be as prestigious as those filled by B.A. holders, they pay a significant premium over many jobs open to those with just a high school degree. More surprisingly, they pay more than many of the jobs held by those with a bachelor’s degree. In fact, according to Georgetown B.A. Economists Professors Harry Holzer and Robert Lerman who wrote, 27 percent of people with post-secondary licenses or certificates—credentials short of an associate’s degree—earn more than the average bachelor’s degree recipient.
FIGURE 1 Since 1973, jobs that require at least some college have exploded while opportunities for those with just a high school education have shrunk dramatically
Source: March 2010, CPS data, various years; Center on Education and the Workforce.
Demand for middle-skilled professionals is exploding?in the nation’s hottest industries, or so called blue-collar fields like construction, manufacturing, and natural resources, though many will simply replace retiring baby boomers. These fields will provide nearly 8 million job openings, 2.7 million of which will require a post-secondary credential. In commercial construction, manufacturing, mining and installation, and repair, this kind of post-secondary education—as opposed to a B.A.—is often the ticket to a well-paying and rewarding career, according to Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce 2010 report.
Focusing more precisely on future employer demand illuminates part of the challenge, but there’s also a problem at the “supply end” of the equation. Increasingly, U.S. employers complain that today’s young adults are not equipped with the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century workforce. In 2006, the Conference Board and three other organizations issued “Are They Ready to Work?” Based on a survey of several hundred employers, the report concluded, “Far too many young people are inadequately prepared to be successful.” The authors concluded that more than half were “deficient” in skills such as oral and written communication, critical thinking and professionalism.
The implication of this work is that a focus on college readiness alone does not equip young people with all of the skills and abilities they will need in the workplace. For instance: while career planning, previous work experience, decision-making, listening skills, integrity, and creativity are all considered vital in the workplace, yet, they hardly figure in college readiness. The growing complaints of a skills gap from some of the nation’s most prominent companies and business organizations underscore a hard reality: their growing reluctance to hire young people with just a high school degree. Meanwhile, business leaders are warning that once the recession ends, they could face shortages of qualified workers in areas ranging from non-residential construction and energy to information technology, healthcare and almost all of these jobs require at least some post-secondary education, (National Academies. (2010). Rising Above the Gathering Storm Revisited).
When young adults fail to successfully complete a post-secondary degree or credential, it is increasingly difficult for them to find an alternative pathway to success through the labor market. This problem began well before the current Great Recession. Economist Andrew Sum calculates that even though total civilian employment surged by over 8 million jobs during the 2003-7 recovery, the total number of employed young adults fell by 10,000 over this same period.
The percentages of young adults who are working are now at the lowest levels recorded since the end of the 1930s Depression. In this unforgiving economy, successfully completing a post-secondary degree offers young adults the best insurance that they will find work. Among all groups, young adults—aged 25 to 30—who have earned at least an associate’s degree, are significantly more likely to be employed than those who have a high school degree or less, (U.S. Census. 2006 “The Employment To Population Ratio For Young Adults Aged 25 to 30”).
Still, because the majority of young adults do not earn even an associate’s degree, we face an ever-rising population of less educated young adults who are persistently disconnected from both education and employment.
FIGURE 2 Shrinking employment opportunities: Teens and Young Adults have been hit the hardest by the Great Recession
Source: Center for Labor Market Studies; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “CPS Labor Force Statistics”.
So what’s the solution?
In 2010, President Barack Obama laid out a path to restoring America’s international leadership in post-secondary attainment:
“...tonight I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college, a four-year school, vocational training, or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.” (President Barack Obama, Joint Session of Congress, February 24, 2009)
By calling attention to the central role that community colleges, vocational training programs and apprenticeships can play in moving us toward the goal of greater post-secondary attainment, the President is acknowledging that the “college for all” rhetoric that has been so much a part of the current education reform movement needs to be significantly broadened to become a “post high-school credential for all.”
As a phrase, there would be nothing wrong with “college for all” if merely uttering the phrase magically provided the “all” the means to actually finish college. Nearly?70 percent of high school graduates now go to college within two years of graduating. But as seen in Figure 5, only about 4 in 10 Americans have obtained either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by their mid-twenties. Roughly another 10 percent have earned a certificate. Still, this is a sobering situation. Only 56 percent of those enrolling in a four-year college attain a bachelor’s degree after six years, and less than 30 percent of those who enroll in community college succeed in obtaining an associate’s degree within three years, (National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and NCES/IPEDS, 2006).
FIGURE 4 “College for All” does not mean everyone needs a B.A. Even in this decade most jobs do not require a B.A.
Source: March CPS data, various years; Center on Education and the Workforce forecast of educational demand to 2018.
II. WHY OUR CURRENT SYSTEM FAILS SO MANY YOUTH, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE?TO FIX IT
By now, the vast majority of American young people and their families have gotten the very clear message that?a high school diploma alone is no longer a sufficient passport to the middle class. Surveys show that middle school students overwhelming aspire to go to college. And college enrollment has continued to escalate. So our national failure to better prepare our young people cannot be explained by poor communications or low aspirations. Rather, the paradox is that even though young people understand they need post-secondary education to make it in 21st century American labor market, huge percentages continue to drop out of high school and college.
Most of the blame for this “dropout nation” state of affairs has been placed on our education system. In response, education reformers have mounted a sustained effort over the past two decades to raise standards, improve test-score performance, and promote “college for all” as the primary pathway to success. The standards movement has helped forge a much clearer national consensus on what children need to learn. The accompanying accountability revolution has cast a harsh spotlight on our continuing failure to equip many students with even basic math and reading skills.
But after 20 years of effort, and billions of dollars?of expenditures, the time has come for an honest assessment. The underlying assumption has been that an academic, classroom-based approach is capable?of preparing nearly all adolescents and young adults?for success in the 21st century. While there have been marginal gains, the bottom line measure of success is college completion. And on that score, we have still been unable to get more than 30 percent of young adults to earn a bachelor’s degree by their mid-20s. “College for all” might be the mantra, but the hard reality is that fewer than one in three young people achieve the dream.
FIGURE 5 The current US reality: only 40% of 27-year olds have earned an A.A. degree or higher
Note: Represents data collected in surveys between 2006-2008; GED is approximation based on data from GED Testing Program.?
Source: Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
The problem is most visible in our high schools, which are plagued by extraordinarily high dropout rates. Every year, some one million students leave before earning a high school degree. Many drop out because they struggle academically. But large numbers say they dropped out because they felt their classes were not interesting, and that high school was boring. In other words, they did not believe high school was relevant, or providing a pathway to achieving their career dreams or goals. This crisis has been likened to a “silent epidemic” that is undermining the very future of America. (Peter Hart and Associates (2006). The Silent Epidemic)
Failure rates are even more pronounced at the post-secondary level. The percentage of students who graduate from college “on time” varies widely by the selectivity of the institution. The majority of students who go on to college fail to earn a degree on time, and many of those never successfully complete their degree. As a result, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States now has the highest college dropout rate in the industrialized world. The question is, why?
Students drop out of high school and college for many reasons, of course: under-preparation for the required academic work; financial pressures; competing claims of family and jobs—the list of causes is long and varied. But certainly a major reason is that too many cannot see a clear, transparent connection between their program of study and tangible opportunities in the labor market.
Young people fail not because they are indifferent, but because we have focused too exclusively on a few narrow pathways to success. It is time to widen our lens and to build a more finely articulated pathways system—one that is richly diversified to align with the needs and interests of today’s young people and better designed to meet the needs of a 21st century economy and labor market. A pathways system might be compared to a roadmap that provides young people with clearly articulated routes to successful lives as adults. Of course, this roadmap need not be formally printed; it might just be generally understood as part of the architecture of a society.
FIGURE 6 U.S. “on time” college completion rates are alarmingly low
Note: Two-year schools have a three-year graduation window. Four-year schools have a six-year window Source: Higher Ed info-NCES/IPEDS Graduation Survey.
Today, roadway?is filled with far more potholes, one-way streets, and dead ends. Radical changes in the nation’s job market— including growing demand for post-secondary graduates, sharply diminished opportunities for high-school graduates, and a relative decline in the earnings of many young people—mean that it is now far more difficult for young adults to become economically self-sufficient.
Clearly a more comprehensive effort to develop a robust pathways system is needed. If high school career-focused pathways were firmly linked to community college and four-year career majors, for example, more students would be likely to stay the course. Indeed, this is an exceptionally promising strategy for increasing post-secondary attainment. To achieve this, high school students will need far better guidance. Many adults over the age of 25 have discovered that community colleges offer programs leading to well-paying jobs in healthcare, technology, and other fields, but recent high school graduates are often poorly represented in such programs due in part to lack of information obtained while still attending high school.
III. REVIEW FROM ABROAD
Why are robust pathways the best way forward? There’s a continent full of empirical literary evidence demonstrating the efficacy of a system that connects work and learning beginning in high school.
Throughout northern and central Europe, especially, vocational education and training is a mainstream system, the pathway helping most young people?make the transition to productive working adulthood. In Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland, after grade 9 or 10 between 40 and 70 percent of young people opt for an educational program that typically combines classroom and workplace learning over the next three years. This culminates in a diploma or certificate, a “qualification, as it is called, with real currency in the labor market.
Upper secondary vocational education varies significantly in structure from country to country, but there are two basic models. The first, usually referred to as apprenticeship or the dual system, has students spend three or four days in paid company-organized training at the workplace, with the other day or two in related academic work in the classroom. Germany has the oldest and best-known apprenticeship system, which offers programs leading?to recognized qualifications in about 350 different occupations. Switzerland also has a very highly regarded apprenticeship system. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
A second group of countries have opted for a model in which vocational education is mostly provided in school-based programs, although they all incorporate at least some work-based learning. These countries typically introduce students to a broad cluster of occupations (i.e. health care or IT) before narrowing the focus of training in the third year. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
From a U.S. perspective perhaps the most important distinction among these countries is the age at?which students are separated into different tracks. Finland and Denmark, keep all students in a common, untracked comprehensive school up through grade 9 or 10, at which point students and their families, not the school, decide which kind of upper secondary education they will pursue. This model makes more sense for the U.S. to consider, but it would mean that we would have to be willing to abandon our reliance on the various forms of tracking, subtle as well as overt, that pervade much of our education system through the elementary and middle school years. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
Despite their highly unattractive early tracking practices, there is much to learn from the German and Swiss apprenticeship systems. Thanks to high standards, those who complete a vocational education track program have qualifications roughly equivalent to Americans who have earned a technical degree from a community college. As such, they are prepared for more advanced studies in institutions of higher education, such as polytechnics and universities of applied science. The German federal states, which regulate education, are now working to improve access for such students. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
In all of these apprenticeship systems employer organizations play a major role. They take the lead?in defining occupational qualifications, providing?paid apprenticeships or other work-based learning opportunities and, in collaboration with educators and trade union partners, assessing student performance and awarding certificates. In Germany, for example, they pay about half of the expenses associated with the system, contributing roughly as much as the government.
Why are they willing to make such a substantial investment?
German employers believe that the best way to get a highly qualified workforce is to invest in the development of young workers, participate directly in their training and socialization in the workplace?and then hire those who have proven themselves to be productive at the end of the apprenticeship period. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
While there is significant variation among the northern and central European countries in the degree of employer ownership, all are characterized by much clearer linkages between labor market needs and educational programs, all offer programs leading to qualifications in a wide range of occupations (white collar as well as blue collar, high tech as well as trades), and all serve a broad cross-section of students. While they all make special efforts to incorporate at-risk students into their programs, in some cases offering employers special incentives to include such students, employers expect their trainees to have a solid foundation of academic skills and a strong work ethic. Consequently, these programs are not designed to serve those with history of school failure. Rather, they are designed?on the premise that many, perhaps most young people would prefer to learn from late adolescence on in an environment in which work and learning are integrated and in which there is a clear occupational goal in sight. This approach is paying off in increased attainment rates. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
Why is the United States falling behind?
It is no longer defensible for the U.S. to behave as if it has nothing to learn from other countries. We believe that if the U.S. is serious about increasing the proportion of young people who arrive?in their mid-twenties with a post-secondary credential with currency in the labor market, it is imperative that we closely examine the experience of several other countries, especially those with the best developed vocational education systems.
In 2007, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development launched an ambitious study of vocational education and training called Learning for Jobs. The study, just completed in September 2011, included reviews of how vocational education tracking is provided in 17 countries, including the U.S. represented by two states, South Carolina and Texas. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
With “learning” rather than employment as its focus, Learning for Jobs concludes that, done well, work based learning appears to be the best way for the majority of young people to prepare for the world of work. As the report explains, workplaces “provide a good place to learn both hard skills on modern equipment and soft skills in terms of working with people in a real-world context. Workplaces improve transitions from school to work by allowing employers and potential employees to get to know one another, trainees contribute useful work, and workplace training within vocational programs provides a lever to link the mix of vocational provision to employer needs.” (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
In addition, and perhaps most important for the U.S. to take notice, the most intensive forms of workplace learning—apprenticeship and sustained internships—are especially effective in meeting the developmental needs of young people. They provide a structure to support?the transition to working adulthood lacking for the majority of young people in the U.S. Apprenticeships provide increasingly demanding responsibilities and challenges in an intergenerational work setting that lends a structure to each day. Adult relationships are built on support and accountability, mentoring and supervision. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
For many young adults, the ultimate bottom line is whether the degree or credential they earn will help them secure a job. Jobs for Youth presents limited, but provocative research that suggests young adults in some countries with strong vocational education track systems find it easier than Americans to successfully transition to the labor market. In Germany, for example, over 80 percent of young adults found jobs within six months of completing their education in 2010, versus just 48 percent in the U.S. Similarly, countries with strong apprenticeship systems had fewer “poorly integrated new entrants”—those who are still struggling to settle into a career path five years after leaving school—than the U.S. This is hardly surprising, when you consider that apprenticeship programs give employers ample opportunity to assess whether a young person would make a good long-term employee. (Nancy Hoffman and Robert Schwartz, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Learning for Jobs. 2010)
Learning for Jobs displays compelling evidence that vocational education that integrates?work and learning is a superior way to learn. And not surprisingly, young people who have been in programs teaching them about “working life” and giving them soft skills as well as training and experience in a career area do better at finding jobs.
These literary reviews also demonstrate the degree to which the U.S. lacks in the approach to preparing young people for success. Indeed, countries that already have strong vocational systems are strengthening them by adding more apprenticeship opportunities, upgrading curriculum to better match labor market needs, and adopting “youth guarantees” to encourage at-risk young people to engage in integrated work and learning programs. In sharp contrast to the U.S., vocational education is seen as a mainstream, well-respected pathway in these countries, while a university education is reserved for people interested in a narrower band?of professions like law, medicine, and research. Even Korea, the country that leapt from 27th to 1st on high school attainment and has made dramatic gains in post-secondary achievement as well, is now rethinking its “college for all” strategy and focusing more attention?on apprenticeships that will prepare people for jobs in high-growth fields like IT, health care, and engineering.
IV. THE ROAD TO AN AMERICAN SOLUTION
The American system for preparing young people to?lead productive and prosperous lives as adults is clearly badly broken. Millions of young adults now arrive at their mid-20s without a college degree and/or a route to a viable job. Continuing on our current course is likely to produce little more than the marginal gains we have seen over the past two decades. And that rate of progress is simply unacceptable for anyone who cares about the future of America.
In this analysis let us focus on two essential elements of any long-term strategy to address the challenge outlined in the abstract section of this social research report. The first element is the development of a broader vision of school reform that incorporates multiple pathways to carry young people from high school to working adulthood. The second is the development of a much-expanded role for employers in supporting these new pathways.
Our current system places far too much emphasis on?a single pathway to success: attending and graduating from a four-year college after completing an academic program of study in high school. And too many of them graduate from college without a clear conception of the career they want to pursue, let alone a pathway for getting there.
Every high school graduate should find viable ways of pursuing both a career and a meaningful post-secondary degree or credential. The U.S. system would be greatly strengthened if the pathways to all major occupations were clearly outlined from the beginning of high school so that young people and their families could clearly see the patterns of course-taking and other experiences that would best position them to gain access to that field. In this system, students would still retain freedom to change their minds, and embark on different courses. They would not be locked into one career at an early age. This “pathways” approach would significantly expand the numbers of young adults who earn a post-secondary credential in a timely fashion. In the process, it would expand both their earning potential and employment opportunities.
The recent adoption by most states of the “Common Core” standards represents long-overdue recognition?of the need for a more uniform national academic currency. Students who are bored and at-risk of dropping out need to be engaged more effectively. They need to know that there are navigable pathways leading to rewarding careers in the mainstream economy. States should recognize the importance of providing such options and not make the mistake of mandating a narrow common college prep curriculum for all. Certainly, it is absolutely essential to ensure?that all students leave high school with a solid enough foundation of core literacy and numeracy skills to keep on learning. However, the course-taking requirements for entry into the most demanding four-year colleges should not be imposed on students seeking careers with fewer academic requirements. Indeed, there is evidence that imposing such requirements can be counterproductive. Many of the states that have sharply raised graduation requirements, including math and science requirements, have experienced a decrease in high school completion rates. (James Stone III. 2012, National Research Center for Career & Technical Education)
We also need to elevate the critical importance of relevant work experience in a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. The workplace is clearly the place to “try on” or test out a career choice. It is also by far the best venue in which to learn the “21st century skills” so critical to success in today’s economy. And work-linked learning can be extraordinarily powerful?in engaging students who are bored or turned off by conventional classroom instruction. Yet in comparison?to many other advanced countries, America has largely neglected this highly effective learning method. Students should have plentiful opportunities to participate in work-linked learning—ranging from job shadowing to internships—in secondary school. In college, we need to make a far more concerted effort to link the jobs most students hold to their programs of study, so that work and learning will be mutually reinforcing. And for young adults not in college, we need to provide employment opportunities, ideally through programs that encourage further education. Youth who are deprived of meaningful work experiences often pay a permanent price in reduced employment prospects. Investments in work experiences for young adults will produce strong future returns.
Meeting the Pathways challenge will require an enormous expansion of our existing efforts. We must rethink and reform the roles that employers and the public sector play in youth development, and we must create a new culture that strongly encourages and enables youth to succeed in making career decisions early in their academics.
V. CONCLUSION
The American system for preparing young people to lead productive and prosperous lives to working adults is clearly badly broken.
Failure to aggressively overcome this challenge will surely erode the fabric of our society. The American Dream rests on the promise of economic opportunity, with a middle class lifestyle for those willing to work?for it. Yet for the millions of young Americans entering adulthood lacking access to marketable skills, the American Dream may be just an illusion, unlikely ever?to come within their grasp. If we fail to better prepare current and future young adults, their frustration over scarce and inferior opportunities is likely to grow, along with economic inequality. The quality of their lives will be lower, the costs that they impose?on society will be higher, and many of their potential contributions to society will go unrealized.
As President Obama had said, we now need every young American not only to complete high school, but also to obtain a post-secondary credential or degree with currency in the labor market. Most Americans now seem to have gotten the message that a high school education is no longer sufficient to secure a path to the middle class.
College enrollment has been steadily rising over the past decade. However, a young person of whatever background who leaves community college after completing a one-year occupational certificate program may earn more than many students who complete a four-year degree program.
As the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reports suggest, other countries manage to equip a much larger fraction of their young people with occupationally relevant skills and credentials by their early twenties. Consequently, these young people experience a much smoother transition into working adulthood. The lessons from Europe strongly suggest that well-developed, high quality vocational education programs provide excellent pathways for many young people to enter the adult work force. But these programs also advance a broader hypothesis: that from late adolescence onward, most young people learn best in structured programs that combine work and learning, and where learning is contextual and applied. Ironically, this approach has been widely applied in the training of our highest status professionals in the U.S., where clinical practice (a form of apprenticeship) is an essential component in the preparation of doctors, architects, and teachers.
When it comes to high school students however, Americans seem to think they will learn best by sitting all day in classrooms. If they have not mastered basic literacy and numeracy skills by the time they enter high school, the answer in many schools is to give them double blocks of English and math. Northern European educators, by contrast, believe that academic skills are best developed through embedding them in the presentation of complex workplace problems that students learn to solve in the course of their part-time schooling. These educators also focus on helping students understand underlying theory –not only how things work, but also why.
This philosophy is not simply about learning: it is also about how to enable young people to make a successful transition to working life. What is most striking about?the best European vocational systems are the investment, social as well as financial, that society makes in supporting this transition. Employers and educators together see their role as not only developing the next generation of workers, but also as helping young people make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. If we could develop an American strategy to engage educators and employers in a more collaborative approach to the education and training of the next generation of workers, it would surely produce important social as well as economic returns on investment.
REFERENCES
- Andrew Sum, (2008). Vanishing Work Among U.S. Teens 2000-10: What a Difference A Decade Makes. Hashburrow Inc. New York, NY.
- William T. Grant, (2008). The Forgotten Half. Foundation’s Commission on Work, Family and Citizenship.
- Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce, (2010). Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018.
- Harry Holzer, Robert Lerman (2009), “Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow”. Georgetown B.A. Economists Professor. Georgetown University, Georgetown, D.C.
- National Academies. (2010). Rising Above the Gathering Storm Revisited.
- U.S. Census. (2006) “The Employment To Population Ratio For Young Adults Aged 25 to 30. Washington D.C
- Reporter Na Jeong-ju. Korean President Lee Myung-?bak Speech. (2010), Korean Times.
- James Stone III. (2012), National Research Center for Career & Technical Education.