Essentially, what we are talking about is a higher standard of learning for the challenging world of this century. The workplace world has changed, and schools need to change to prepare students for the modern workplace.
For centuries, public schools have emulated the workplace or the office work of their contemporary times. When clerical workers were sharpening their nibs with penknives and dipping their quills in inkwells, schools had those same inkwells on the desk of every student.
When the office workplace was based on paper, students were getting their information from books and writing their assignments in notebooks.
With the dawning of the 21st century, humankind entered the information age based upon the ease of access to digital media and the volume of resources available to everyone. Many jobs that have traditionally been blue collar are now requiring a high level of technological skill. Computers are in the office, in the trades, in agriculture, and nearly everywhere.
If modern schools are to properly prepare students for their futures, the schools need to provide the modern learning tools that reflect the contemporary workplace.
Earlier this year, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton spoke to a difficulty Microsoft is having filling its highly skilled positions. According to Dayton, Microsoft has 2,600 senior programming jobs world-wide that are going unfilled because Microsoft cannot hire people with the skills to do these jobs. Starting salary for these jobs is $105,000 annually.
Despite our nation’s high unemployment rate and the attractive salary the software giant is offering, Microsoft cannot find the people to fill its jobs. There are simply not enough people with these skill sets.
This is the future for some of the most lucrative jobs in our nation. People with advanced technical skills will be in high demand. They will be very employable and able to demand high salaries.
We need to make sure that today’s kids are ready to earn these high salaries.
Daniel Frazier, PhD, is currently Superintendent of Education for Litchfield Public Schools in Litchfield, Minnesota. He began his career as a superintendent in 1997. Dr. Frazier was recognized by eSchool News and its sponsors as one of the eSchool News Tech-Savvy Superintendents in 2012. This post originally appeared in his blog, A Lighthouse.
- Connecting kids with today’s changing tech tools - January 23, 2014
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