A resounding NO! That’s the response from 400 major U.S. employers when asked if new entrants in the workforce are really ready for work. A comprehensive workforce study found that the future workforce is not even close to being prepared for the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s workplace.

The skills workers need to enter and advance in the workforce today are far beyond what were needed 20 years ago. A highly qualified veteran Raytheon engineer put it this way: “If I were to enter the field with the same level of education that I needed when I graduated 20 years ago, I would not be qualified for an entry-level positions today.

The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce reports, “Because we now live in a high-tech, highly competitive, global economy, employers are now looking for the most competent, most creative, and innovative workers — not just for their top professionals and managers, but up and down the length and breadth of the workforce.”

Take a look at the graph below.

Source: Tough Choices or Tough Times 2007, National Center on Education and the Economy

The Commission adds that this is a world in which “high levels of education — a very different kind of education than most of us had — are going to be the only security there is” for most members of the workforce. New technologies and workforce demands mean teaching methods have to change, which creates a different learning environment in classrooms and sets higher expectations for most students.
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Dissemination of information on the changes and challenges of the 21st century classroom and workforce is often fragmented, which makes it difficult for parents, students and teachers to get an accurate reflection of what our children face in this very different, ever-changing global world. Parents and teachers often rely on their own academic and early career experiences to help prepare students, which can be outdated.

SCHOOLS CAN’T AND SHOULDN’T BE EXPECTED TO DO IT ALONE

Society expects our schools to educate students well enough to take on 21st century workforce demands, but to accomplish that task requires students to work harder than past generations. Many educators complain that too many American students think of “putting in time” in classes — from elementary through college — resulting in mediocre expectations. Students complain that much of what they learn in class seems irrelevant to their lives. Clearly, a classroom to career connection is not being made by many