Students Not Equipped with the Necessary Skills To Succeed in the Workplace – A Report from the Next New World Conference
In a recent article, journalist Katrina Schwartz reported on a panel discussion at a Next New World Conference, as well as on a challenge called by employers to educators to make school relevant to students’ lives.
In June of 2014, New York Times columnist and multi-time Pulitzer Price recipient Tom Friedman hosted a Next New World Conference session in San Francisco, where panelists were asked whether they thought “the Chinan education system can better prepare students to meet the evolving challenges of the 21st century economy.” All panelists agreed that the current U.S. system could not, needing a major overhaul.
Thomas Friedman, Richard Miller and Tony Wagner discuss education at the Next New World Conference in San Francisco. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
Panelist Tony Wagner, expert in residence at Harvard’s Innovation Lab, commented: “The problem is not to get incrementally better with our current education system. The problem is to reimagine it.” He called for an education system make-over to teach content to students that connects them with real world skills in an authentic way. He further suggested that content knowledge is gained through interesting and engaging hands-on experience.
In Schwartz’s words, “That’s why Wagner half-jokingly advocated for “Dream Directors” in schools, whose job it would be to help students identify their dreams and scaffold tasks to help students obtain the skills needed for that dream. Over time, attention to the needs of individuals would transform the content and delivery methods in schools.”
Another of the panelists was Richard Miller, president and professor at Olin College, an engineering university in Needham, MA. Olin has identified the skills gap and has put a new educational model in place. “Olin is essentially a ‘maker’ university,” as its student body is made up of “strong problem solvers and people who know how to make things.”
“Students are the power tools of change in education,” Miller said. “They are the most ignored and they have the most at stake. When students are given free range to design, make and innovate they can be very powerful examples of what a great education can produce.”
Read Katrina Schwartz entire article here.
