Economy and work ethic

As a college educator and being a teacher for over 27 years, I often find myself in discussion with my colleagues and friends over the role and purpose of higher education. Should we be training our students for the workforce, giving them tools and skills they can use each day as an employee for a particular position? Or should we provide a broader liberal arts education that allows them greater marketability, giving them critical thinking skills that can be applied throughout their lives as they build a career? In the process of education, should we help them become entreprenuerial, to become leaders, to use their personal ambition to propel them forward regardless of their chosen profession? At what point does the world of training collide and intersect with the world of thinking?

I recall as a young teacher hearing the complaints from other teachers of the quality of students in today's schools. As I moved from college education to public school and back to higher education, I have heard the litany of concerns being raged around the coffee pots and in the teacher's lounges. "Students are not interested in learning," has been expressed ad nauseum by teachers at all levels. "Students no longer read." "Students don't know how to write." "Students don't know how to research." "Students do not have a good work ethic and students do not know how to act." Really the list goes on and on, and as the complaints continue so do the students continue to come and go. Over my 27 years, I really have not seen a lot of changes in students for the most part. Some are prepared for college, most are not. Some have a strong work ethic, most do not. Some read, most don't. Some are good writers, most are not. Some behave, most do not. Perhaps, as I think about it, I was lacking myself as a college student!

Concern and discussion about college students will continue as long as we have universities. But the real problem is not the lack of quality students, the problem is that we in higher education are not entirely sure how to provide an education that prepares students for today's economy. We cast a broad teaching net hoping to catch as many students as possible to help them in the future. We do so through General Education and what is known as discipline specific courses. A university is not institution for job training, although some of that is certainly necessary and valuable. A university cannot possibly prepare a student for every possibility in the world, but a university can encourage, guide, and yes train, at least to an extent, students for most types of employment.

The process of education does not necessarily teach content, but instead teaches how to learn, how to discriminate between fact and fiction, how to find information, and ultimately how to use knowledge and cognition to develop careers and sustain excellence in the work place. What an education teaches is the value of having a work ethic, for without a work ethic there is no economy. Our economic ills, driven by excessive governmental spending and a disregard for the power of supply and demand, are partly the result of a poor work ethic. Given that a work ethic is the result of recognition of need, of ambition, of a desire for improvement, we are seeing many college students graduating without a strong work ethic. While the blame cannot be laid at the feet of the instiutions, and in fact blame can be shared by students, parents, society, economy, and culture, we as colleges and universities need to recognize our essential responsibility of finding ways to help students develop a work ethic.

Ironically, this is not to say there are not many people seeking employment. People willing and able to work hard, ready to be productive, ready to contribute to the success of the company are numerous indeed. But, sadly, those desperately seeking employment are hampered by the interference of supply and demand in the world. Demand for more supply results in more jobs. In this light, it is paramount for employers to meet the needs of the people. When the demagogues of the world interfere with supply and demand, we see an artificial economy teetering on the brink of a freefall. With this artificiality in supply and demand, comes the great anathema of excessive unemployment blended with a lack of skills and abilities to meet the demands of the people when they arrive. It makes the institutions of higher education very nervous to graduate students who cannot find employment. But back to the problem at hand.

With information, entertainment, relationships, and opportunity at all our fingertips, it stands to reason that college students no longer see a need for a work ethic that propels them to the next level. The next level is already in our midst, why try to improve on it? And yet, the fact remains that employers are struggling to find employees willing and able to put in a hard day's work and be productive. To thrive and develop and refine our society, we must find a way to encourage students to have a strong work ethic and to learn how to learn, to learn how to produce, and to learn how to make a difference.

Am I concerned for the future? Sure. But do I think students are any less motivated today than yesterday? No. What has changed is the immediacy of information, entertainment, and relationships. What once was difficult is now presented easily. When my children began to walk, it was out of a need to move more quickly and efficiently to accomplish their goals--food, facilities, fun and excitement! If our students have no need to stand up and walk, they will remain in a crawl position throughout their educational endeavors. My responsibility as a teacher is to find and demonstrate how and why education remains vital for today's students. The journey for excellence continues.