Ready for Career? Preparing Students for 21st Century Challenges - Essay Sample

Introduction

Students should be encouraged and skilled enough to be ready for college and the working environment. They should be skilled enough to perform their duties as expected. Career readiness is what makes a student more marketable and no grade in school alone. The question is whether the students in their current form are ready for career and work environment and the challenges that come with it. In the 21st century, traditional jobs are becoming obsolete. The new emerging types of careers require students to be adequately trained to ensure they have the necessary skills to adapt and perform as expected. The work environment in the 21st century is changing and requires workers who are skilled and not just theoretical knowledge. Growth of computer has led to most jobs becoming obsolete, and students need to have other skills to market them in the competitive job market. In 2005, the study titled Rising to the challenge focused on the issue of whether high school graduates are ready for college and work (Gross & Latham, 2012). Peter D Harts research associates conducted this study. The study concluded that a substantial number of high school graduates get less preparation for college and work. They show a massive gap in skill development.

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Several statements surprised me from the report. First is that a substantial number of high school graduates lack the necessary skills for college and work life. Those who claim to require this skill are about 39%. It is a high number compared to the public's assumption (Hart, 2005). High school education is meant to ensure that students learn and acquire skills that help them in college and in work environment where jobs assigned demand specific skills. To read that, college instructors confirming that most high school graduates lack the necessary skills was shocking. The article states that 49% of colleges graduates have no qualifications for the job market. We need new educational policies that promote these skills that are lacking (Hart, 2005).

The Challenge in communication is something I never thought existed with high school graduates. The researchers indicate that over 45% of students claim that they have difficulty in oral communication. Oral communication forms the basis of all the other skills, and thus, the number given is high. I did not know that over 60% of students who are in work environments but did not go to college claim to have skills for their current jobs (Hart, 2005). It means that colleges are also not doing enough to promote skill development to prepare students for the work environment. If students get proper skills in oral communication, it forms the basis of the event for all other necessary skills. The fact that those who have learnt the skills from their employment environment have the ability and skills for the expected responsibility means students can learn these skills in school. Both oral communication and on-job training can positively impact on students teaching (Hart, 2005).

From this research, it would be essential to learn what the government is doing to address these challenges. Preparing college graduates for the expected work environment should have government input who continuously researches the emerging trends through the respective government agencies. It is the expectation of the general public, especially college graduates, that the government will act on the quality of education offered for high school graduates. The area of research in this article that connects more to my professional goals is about oral communication. My professional goal is to be an active public speaker since it involved a lot of conversation in public forums. It was shocking to learn that high schools do not adequately prepare students to gain oral communication skills (Gross & Latham, 2012). The research finding was that that high school graduates claimed that they graduated without the required skills to prepare them for both college and work. The explanation I in the conclusion part of the research article captures the need of our education sector(Hart, 2005).

Conclusion

In conclusion, we need to improve the quality of education offered to our children. We need to develop students and graduates who can perform the tasks assigned by college instructors and supervisors at work. It is surprising to learn that a substantial number of graduates do not have the required skills necessary to ensure that they are competing for their careers. From the report, more than 70 per cent of students support any measures that would help improve the skills that would make them competent enough to perform tasks assigned. They hope to get preparation action adequately for their career growth. The government can do more by raising the stands of performance in high school and ensure that skill-based learning priority. A broad reform agenda is necessary for high school education. Students, college instructors and employers support this assertion. Students feel inadequate in oral communication, research and writing, and it is high time all efforts are made to address the problem in the education sector.

References

Gross, M., & Latham, D. (2012). What's skill got to do with it?: Information literacy skills and selfviews of ability among firstyear college students. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 63(3), 574-583.

Hart, P. (2005). Rising to the challenge: Are high school graduates prepared for college and work: study conductedforAchieve, a non-profit organization for education reform, Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www. Achieve - Org/rising to the challenge.

McKenna, M. C., Conradi, K., Lawrence, C., Jang, B. G., & Meyer, J. P. (2012). Reading attitudes of middle school students: Results of a US survey. Reading research quarterly, 47(3), 283-306.