Learning Matters: The Economics of Career Education

I’ve spent a lot of time over the years discussing college and career readiness. Most of the time, I’ve focused on the education side of the topic, and how today’s career education isn’t meant as a choice between college or career.

I’ve touted the arguments of diehard career technical educators who understand the value of real-world learning as a means of mastering academics, both for clearly motivated students and those looking for the nearest classroom exit.

I’ve reported on the educational benefits of project based learning and how it engages students who come to understand — and understand the value of — subjects that seemed pointless.

But I’ve been hearing more and more recently about the economic imperative of a more career-focused education. For the U.S. Congress, that reauthorized the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the state legislature that directs funds to workforce systems in California (principal funders of the career pathway grants to school and college districts), the development of career pathways is about jobs and the economy.

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As stated in a press release from the California Community College Chancellor’s office on Dec. 1, “To develop more workforce opportunities and lift low-wage workers into living-wage jobs, California took a bold step in 2016 to create 1 million more middle-skilled workers.”

Throughout the state, workforce development representatives are meeting with businesses and educators to develop plans to boost employment in key economic sectors.

This theme is not a new one. As voters in the 1992 presidential election may remember from Bill Clinton’s note-to-self mantra, “[It’s] the economy, stupid.” And as we know from the most recent presidential election, the economy matters to most people in a way that the topic of public education just doesn’t.

Educators will likely always be looking for ways to improve instruction, but industries are increasingly impatient for the skills they need in a rapidly changing workplace, where whole industries are appearing and disappearing at unnerving rates and an aging workforce is poised to retire.

I expect it will be jobs and the economy that drive educational reform sooner than continued conversations about effective educational strategies. It will be the supply and demand of the jobs market that alters how we educate.

Even a few statistics should be enough to move us to action. At a summit hosted recently by BizFed, which is an alliance of Los Angeles area business networks, I heard that 80% of recent parolees are unemployed, and many of them lack basic skills.

While not surprising, it’s a troubling number for anyone concerned about safety and security. I can understand why California encourages workforce agencies to prioritize job training and placement for parolees and others facing barriers to employment.

At a Verdugo Job Center workshop on diversity in the workplace, the speaker pointed out that our country currently has the oldest workforce in its history. Increasingly, as baby boomers age, employers will need the services of specialists in geriatric ergonomics to design workplaces to match the particular needs of these employees. But the remaining boomers will eventually retire, and employers will need workers to fill their jobs.

I’ve heard 40% of employees at the L.A. Department of Water and Power are reportedly eligible to retire. Two years ago, I heard similar projections for skilled workers at the Port of Los Angeles. We need young people willing and able to repair our rusting pipes, to design, build and manage sustainable power supplies and infrastructure.

We need smart young college graduates who will step into public education classrooms when the last of the baby boom teachers retire. Not everyone will be learning online at home. And we need people to build affordable housing, not only for the region’s homeless, but for all the teachers and others who can’t afford to live where they work.

At the Southern California Assn. of Governments summit last week, former Gov. Gray Davis described the growing world of robots, where human employment is focused on maintaining the robots and programming software.

“There’ll be a big need and good pay,” he said.

Robots may manufacture our cars, and self-driving trucks or drones may deliver our packages, but technicians will be needed to build and maintain the robots. We’ll also need engineers and artists to design them.

We need schools to consider career education an element of all they teach, to alert students to the utility of their learning so they can begin to imagine the careers they might pursue with the skills they gain in school. But we must also make sure we don’t lose sight of the foundational skills needed for real success in any career path.

My favorite quote from the BizFed summit came from an educator in a school serving South Central L.A. “One skill beats all: literacy — reading and writing.” There’s economy in those words.

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JOYLENE WAGNER is a former member of the Glendale Unified School Board and an advocate for college and career education. Email her at jkate4400@aol.com.