Educational Empowerment

The current economic world is intelligent, intersected, and instrumented. The lack of proper training in schools, to enable students to relate what they have learnt to real life situations in the workplace, is setting them up to failure in life. Schools have more room for preparation of students for jobs in the economic industry. They should come up with a new and innovative curriculum, which would prepare the students for a progressively competitive and complex job market where knowledge is not the only winning attribute. Communication skills, mobility, analytical and social skills all play a major role in the market and hence they should be given priority in schools today (Wotherspoon, 2009). For instance, instead of basing its principles on the theoretical aspect of buying and selling of goods, schools need to consider the importance of fostering a connection with the customer, which may lead to an enduring relation. Understanding the complications of the transition from school to work, government and institutions had opened up new routes and courses for that specific programs that will aid student with school to work transition; trades is one of the examples.

Skilled trade workers had been one of the major shortages in North America. The apprenticeship system contains only “150 apprentice able trades and less than one percent of the national labor force registered as apprentices” (Taylor et al., 2008) Contemporary schools are obsessed with the notion that filling up children with knowledge is the best way of educating them. Ideals such motivating them to succeed and innovation skills are ignored while cramming of formulas and theories are encouraged. Even though the memorization of facts is important, it does not help a lot in the real business world. Innovation skills and motivation are responsible for determining how a student will fair in their career choices and in the job market (Wotherspoon, 2009). Starting apprenticeship program will be able to test this theory out. Government have supported this program, one, to increased more trades worker, and second, because apprenticeship has a good structure for learners to learn and apply their skills and construct a work identity. (Taylor et al., 2008)

The fundamental competencies that many schools fail to integrate into their curricula include problem solving, critical and creative thinking, diplomacy, leadership, entrepreneurship, communication skills, imagination, and innovation. These attributes are essential for the growth and development of any economically sound nation. The absence of these elements in a country’s educational system creates a disconnection between students and the job market. More students are inclined towards how they can spend the money they earn rather than how they can invest and save the money in an innovative way for future development.

The business world provides a job market that is in deep need of innovators and visionaries. The current school curriculum heavily fails to teach the right skills that can make the students visionaries and innovators (Wotherspoon, 2009). The contemporary culture of learning is at loggerheads with the art of learning that produces innovation and creativity. Schools place their central focus on individual achievement of students rather than teamwork. This conflicts with the workplace where individuality hardly ever produces any meaningful output. Diversity in schools is almost non-existent. Specialization is upheld and even rewarded. This leads to the lack of skill diversity by students who end up underperforming and being limited to a single line of thought and action. Ultimately, this contributes to lack of innovation, which is of utmost importance in the workplace. In Taylor et al.’s article, apprenticeship training center had given students the chance to discuss and work as a group to problem solve their questions and share their knowledge. The result was good. Not only did the students felt that they have learned from others, also they have learn their weakness so they can go for specific trainings.

In schools, the culture of avoidance of risk taking is detrimental to the development of the students. Students stick to one single mode of operation and any diversion is considered offensive. This limits student imagination and innovation, which are the key ingredients in the business world (Wotherspoon, 2009) Furthermore, learning is more passive than active. The teacher-student flow of information turns students into consumers rather than creators. The workplace requires inventors and less of information consumers. Emphasis on academic excellence hinders development of talents and passion of students. They lack motivation in what they are good at and focus on pleasing their teachers and parents through passing meaningless examinations. Students turn out to be workers who are unhappy with their job placements and this decreases their output in the business world. In the training center of Taylor et al.’s article, students were given opportunities to engage in some practices of certain tools, rather than just theory and books. Students had responded positively regarding this experience; students actually understand the connection between theory and practice.

In order for schools to prepare their students for entry into the job market, many items in the curriculum need to be reinvented (Wotherspoon, 2009). The schools should start encouraging teamwork among the students. Reasonably, this builds their capacity to work with different people, a similar scenario with that of the workplace. By working as teams in class projects, students are set to handle projects effectively in a work setting. Learning should be a point of self-actualization where students do not just work hard as a means to an end, but rather as a way of gaining skills for betterment. In most work places, the best way of problem solving is preferred to just solving the problem. Students can be taught this through learning on problem solving and quick decision-making skills. This creates the ability to come up with various avenues through which these students can resolve issues. Schools have the ethical responsibility of offering diverse career options for students due to the diversity in the business world. This has a big role in preparing students for the job market. The current school curriculum should undergo massive transformation that would incorporate other fields of study like communication, arts, and music into the traditional fields like math, science, and technology. These new fields would help foster creativity, self-discipline, innovativeness and inspire the passions of students.

In Conclusion, the job opportunities in business world are ever changing. It is not enough to just learn and absorb knowledge. Analytical skills and critical thinking are just as important in the process of driving a country to its highest economic achievement. Therefore, schools should do more to ensure that the students are thoroughly prepared for placement into the job market. The purpose of schooling has gone beyond knowledge consumption; it is a place for younger adults to transfer their educational knowledge and applied it to real life working environment.