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Watching Bill Gates and Warren Buffett at Columbia University, Bill Gates said the thing that worries him most for the future is the state of our education system. He’s right. 6.2 million students dropped out of high school in 2007. Amongst those who do graduate from high school, basic reading comprehension and math skills have been steadily declining.
Then there’s college. Even graduate programs don’t teach lessons in leadership, communication, or entrepreneurial skills. That is slowly beginning to change, if you can afford to go to a private university such as the University of Evansville that has an entrepreneurial studies program beginning. Of course, the average in-state public university costs around $17,000 each year. To get into a private university and an entrepreneurial program, you not only need the grades, you also need about $36,000 per year.
So even those students who get into and through college aren’t being taught what they really need to know, and they’re paying a lot for that.
Teachers Aren’t Allowed to Teach
With growing usage of standardized testing to determine whether a child passes on to the next grade, more and more teachers are ‘teaching to the test’. They’re not truly engaging the student. They aren’t teaching critical thinking skills. They’re teaching students to learn facts long enough to regurgitate them on a test. That’s it. Because, they’re told, that’s their job.
At the same time, the number of government mandated requirements are increasing while state and government funding is decreasing. Schools have to meet more specific requirements with less money. So guess what they’re doing? They’re cutting teachers, as well as the most basic resources.
The administration and funding in schools is not conducive to learning, and it’s getting worse.
Then They Enter The Workforce
These students with decreasing rates of completing school, or those who complete school without basic skills and knowledge they truly need out in the world, eventually enter the workforce. When they start work, they’re expected to already possess not only these skills, but soft skills like communication. But they don’t. They go on to stay in a job long enough to be promoted to management. And managers are expected to manage, not lead. They definitely aren’t taught how to coach and develop their people. They expect HR to do that for them. Except HR is busy with recruiting, and disciplinary procedures, and negotiating and administering benefits, and maybe a little party-planning on the side. Besides, many HR people don’t have any background in adult learning or instructional development.
And They Do It Wrong
