Public School and Job Opportunities
I try not to be one of "those" homeschoolers who tries to convince everyone to homeschool and is anti-public school. I actually have a HUGE passion for education, including public school. However, there is a big area that public schools are failing our children, and this may not be entirely apparent until the next generation enters the workforce.
I was reading an article about Generation "Z" entering the workforce. They were talking about a few different things, and one of them was that these new employees were "risk averse" and "non-entrepreneurial". That got me thinking about the future of job opportunities for children currently in school - including my own. My husband is a manager, and one of his main complaints is that some of the employees only want to do one thing one way, and they aren't easily able to adjust their thinking, think divergently, plan ahead, or make executive decisions. This can cause real problems in the workforce. Even more so as things continue to move towards a more automated system.
For example, at my husband's work, the "automated" part of the system sent an extra file than they normally do. It was an automation error, but the people doing the processing completed everything, without ever questioning the fact that something was different - despite several clear clues that something was wrong. I have seen the same thing in my tutoring of college level students. Many students are so bad at common sense that they can only ask "do I add or subtract" even if it's something very basic. They just want the "formula" rather than being able to think in a common sense manner about what is happening in the problem.
Now, these are obviously not new problems. My husband works with people his age and older for the most part. However, these problems are going to become more and more prevalent unless major changes are made in the public school system in this country.
When testing and showing up are all that is valued in the schools, we will end up with a generation full of people expecting to "show up", check a box, and collect a paycheck. If you think about the jobs that are going to be available 10-20 years from now, that's just not going to cut it.
I can see that people sometimes look at the fact that my kids are a bit hyper or don't always sit and do worksheets. I do wonder myself sometimes what their work ethic will be, since they are only required to do maybe 1-2 hours of work a day right now. But, I think it's even more important that they learn how to think. I don't worry about whether or not my (possibly dysgraphic) son has lined up his addition or subtraction problem correctly. I care that when they discuss 8 times 4 they can say "Oh that's the same as 2 times 16" or read a paragraph word problem and dictate to me what needs to be added or subtracted from what rather than being spoon fed a formula.
Not all kids will be able to do this in depth thinking, and homeschool is not for all kids. I am trying to prepare my kids for a world in which they either need a ton of common sense and the ability to think for themselves, or a world where they need to have a physical skill or trade that doesn't automate easily. I don't think public schools prepare kids for either option. So, if you are a parent of a public school student (or a homeschool parent) take a moment to think for a minute about what the job opportunities will be like when your child graduates. Are they prepared?
I was reading an article about Generation "Z" entering the workforce. They were talking about a few different things, and one of them was that these new employees were "risk averse" and "non-entrepreneurial". That got me thinking about the future of job opportunities for children currently in school - including my own. My husband is a manager, and one of his main complaints is that some of the employees only want to do one thing one way, and they aren't easily able to adjust their thinking, think divergently, plan ahead, or make executive decisions. This can cause real problems in the workforce. Even more so as things continue to move towards a more automated system.
For example, at my husband's work, the "automated" part of the system sent an extra file than they normally do. It was an automation error, but the people doing the processing completed everything, without ever questioning the fact that something was different - despite several clear clues that something was wrong. I have seen the same thing in my tutoring of college level students. Many students are so bad at common sense that they can only ask "do I add or subtract" even if it's something very basic. They just want the "formula" rather than being able to think in a common sense manner about what is happening in the problem.
Now, these are obviously not new problems. My husband works with people his age and older for the most part. However, these problems are going to become more and more prevalent unless major changes are made in the public school system in this country.
When testing and showing up are all that is valued in the schools, we will end up with a generation full of people expecting to "show up", check a box, and collect a paycheck. If you think about the jobs that are going to be available 10-20 years from now, that's just not going to cut it.
I can see that people sometimes look at the fact that my kids are a bit hyper or don't always sit and do worksheets. I do wonder myself sometimes what their work ethic will be, since they are only required to do maybe 1-2 hours of work a day right now. But, I think it's even more important that they learn how to think. I don't worry about whether or not my (possibly dysgraphic) son has lined up his addition or subtraction problem correctly. I care that when they discuss 8 times 4 they can say "Oh that's the same as 2 times 16" or read a paragraph word problem and dictate to me what needs to be added or subtracted from what rather than being spoon fed a formula.
Not all kids will be able to do this in depth thinking, and homeschool is not for all kids. I am trying to prepare my kids for a world in which they either need a ton of common sense and the ability to think for themselves, or a world where they need to have a physical skill or trade that doesn't automate easily. I don't think public schools prepare kids for either option. So, if you are a parent of a public school student (or a homeschool parent) take a moment to think for a minute about what the job opportunities will be like when your child graduates. Are they prepared?
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