What's the point?
- Jun 27, 2017
- 3 min read
"The students in my school don't go to college, what's the point of college readiness?"
I can't tell you how many times administrators and teachers have said this to me. Most of the people saying it are very well-intentioned, loving educators who genuinely do want to help their students learn and succeed. These educators just don't know how college readiness fits in their high-poverty schools or in their communities where most work is blue-collar. They're realists asking, "What's the point of getting students to set goals for college when they can't go?"
A lot of parents feel the same way. For parents who struggle financially to meet the day-to-day needs of their families, college tuition seems like a long shot, even with financial aid. And many of these parents did just fine without a college education, they were able to find good paying jobs to support their families. They're realists asking, "What's the point of getting my kids excited for college when I can't pay for it?"
I'm a realist, too. I don't need to tell these people that times have already changed and are continuing to change very rapidly. The careers of the future haven't been created yet and it is impossible to predict the type of jobs that will be available when today's kindergarteners graduate from college. All future jobs will require individuals who are innovative, able to transfer skills across fields, and who can learn on the job. Future jobs will require computer and technical skills far more advanced than what are typically required today, especially in the manufacturing industry.
The second assumption in my work is that nearly all jobs in the future will require some form of education after high school and so all students must graduate from high school ready for college. For some students, this may be career and technical education at a community college and others will require graduate school to achieve their dreams.
Consider this interactive map of the most common jobs in each state. In the 1980s, the most common job was secretary but the secretarial jobs that had once been common are now obsolete because of "the rise of the home computer." In 2014, the most common job was truck driver. Now consider the future impact of self-driving trucks on those jobs. What will truck drivers do for work when the trucking industry dies? The states with the strongest economies are hiring skilled labor in booming tech industries.
(Just for fun, take a look at this map of the largest employers in each state.)
The US Department of Labor has created an extensive website called O*NET OnLine that presents information about the types of occupations that exist and the preparation required to enter those occupations. O*NET has a designation for certain occupations that are "expected to grow rapidly in the next several years, will need large numbers of new job openings, or are new and emerging occupations." These are "Bright Outlook" occupations that will need to be filled in the future by the children who are in school today. Very few of the Bright Outlook occupations require no postsecondary education, even baristas and bartenders can attend training courses and workshops to learn skills and make themselves more employable.
As I have recommended, the first step in creating a school-wide culture of college aspirations is to ask the adults in the school to pledge the belief that all students--regardless of family background, language, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, or ability--can succeed in some sort of postsecondary education program, ranging from technical education to graduate school. Imagine the impact on our collective economic future if all American adults pledged this belief about all children!
We as a nation can't afford to leave behind even one future scientist or innovative worker. All individuals have the right to earn a living in a fulfilling career and it is the role of parents, educators, and education policymakers to support our children's life dreams. We must start training our students for future occupations like the Bright Outlook careers or our entire economy will suffer. Most importantly, we must maintain a brighter outlook about the future of our children and nurture the seeds of their aspirations.
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