In one of my PIDP courses, the question of "What Is Education" was posed. Some participants felt that educators were increasingly asked to talk about how their curriculum were relevant to the workforce. While reading, writing, and the ability to put together a logical argument were skills that could be applied in many settings, some participants felt that the knowledge of some subjects, such as humanity's evolutionary and cultural history and present day cultural life, were not specifically "job skills. Some also suggested that the world of work and industry provided an extremely narrow perspective. Others also felt that the curriculum designed by and for the industry seem to limit the expression of human potential.
Additionally, some participants even echoed Bowen's concerns that educational institutions were increasingly becoming businesses, treating students as customers and selling credentials. In order to stay afloat, they worried that schools were accepting corporate sponsorship and selling off property, thereby failing to meet their objectives of providing higher learning to serve the public good.
According to a recent study of 22,000 students from a diverse range of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds, the result was staggering. “Students were bored in school 70% of the time.” (Watson, 2015). If so, do you blame some students for criticizing and rejecting schools, given that they feel that their curriculum are irrelevant to them and their world. As educators, if we continue to emphasize teaching subject matters rather than essentials skills for the real world of work, such as team work, problem solving and interpersonal skills, why would there be any incentives for students to pursue college? Perhaps this explains the decline in college enrollment for five consecutive years in the United States. (Ferber, 2016).
In today's rapidly changing demands, knowledge or high IQ alone is not enough. Millennials need to understand and realize that not all things will go their way all the time. Therefore, they need to learn how to overcome setbacks and make changes quickly and work effectively in a team environment. As educators, we need to recognize that such soft skills are essential ingredients for success in the real world, regardless of what we teach whether anthropology, French, or computer science.
In the case of adult learners, the number of older adults returning back to school is increasing. According to the study conducted by National Center for Education Statistics in the United States, “students over age 35, who accounted for 17 percent of all college and graduate students in 2009, are expected to comprise 19 percent of that total by 2020”. (Holland, 2014). Adults’ objectives for pursuing higher learning is to improve their skill sets in order to launch a second career or to pursue a new career. When adult learners return back to school, they expect to be engaged in an active learning environment, interacting in groups through authentic learning activities and using relevant technologies that replicate the real world of work. To prepare students for a multiple career-life path, educators need to develop a holistic curriculum, allowing students to adapt to whatever career paradigm that will emerge.
References
Bowen, J. A. (2012). In Teaching Naked - How Moving Technology Out of Your College
Classroom Will Improve Student Learning (p. 3). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ferber, M. (2016, December 19). College Enrollment Dips as More Adults Ditch Degrees for
Jobs. Retrieved from Fortune: http://fortune.com/2016/12/19/college-enrollment-decline/
Holland, K. (2014, August 28). Back to School: Older Students on the Rise in College Classrooms. Retrieved from NBCNews: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business- news/back
Watson, S. (2015, October 15). Students Unhappy in School, Survey Finds. Retrieved from
survey-finds.html