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Jobs and the Skills Gap
By Willard Daggett, Ed.D., International Center for Leadership in Education
(Excerpt from a white paper by Dr. Daggett)
The academic skills demanded by many entry-level jobs today are at a higher level than the academic skills required for postsecondary education. Some of those skills are not only more rigorous but also different from the skills needed for success in postsecondary education. Yet, our schools focus on getting students ready for college as the ultimate academic preparation, despite the fact that for two decades business has led the charge for higher academic skills because schools are turning out young adults without the academic skills to succeed in the workplace.
Business does not necessarily know what or how schools should be teaching tomorrow's workers, but it does know that it is not getting what it needs in terms of entry-level worker skills. As an example, the business community has long identified inadequate reading proficiency as a problem among entry-level employees. Educators have attempted to solve the problem from within their own paradigm, by teaching more of what they had always taught-literature. While reading literature is an important and culturally enhancing competency, it is not the same as informational reading.
The reading requirements for today's entry-level jobs are higher than they are for state tests or college. To function in the 21st century students require better technical reading skills for understanding documents and quantitative material, not more reading of prose, poetry, and other literary forms. To acquire these technical reading skills, students need to be taught reading in all content areas, not just in English class.
Economic Trends
The skills gap in this country has resulted from a shift in our economy. In 1900, the ten largest American companies were either agrarian or tied to an industrial base. In 1998, the ten largest companies were industrial, retail, or based in information technology.
The number of jobs for the unskilled has declined steadily over the past several decades. Today we are witnessing an increase in semi-skilled jobs. In the next ten years, there will be a huge growth in skilled jobs. In addition, the shift has occurred from large to small companies. Employees in small firms often need to do a variety of tasks requiring a range of skills.
As more jobs require higher-level skills, an interesting dynamic is occurring in postsecondary education. The American Association of Community College Trustees reports that in many regions of the country, more students with baccalaureate degrees are enrolled in community colleges than there are students with associate degrees attending four-year colleges. Community college has become the new graduate school for many liberal arts majors.
While we cannot know for certain which technical skills will be most in demand for the jobs of the future, we can identify the academic skills that underpin our technological world. Those skills include technical reading and writing across the curriculum; integrated science instruction; statistics; and entrepreneurial skills.
In addition to the skills listed above, students must be taught how to apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems. The best way to do this is by appealing to a student's interests, learning style, and aptitudes. Unfortunately, most American schools are not organized for application or contextualized instruction, even though we know that when we teach students how to apply knowledge, they retain it and perform well on tests.
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