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43% of post-secondary graduates are holding jobs that are outside of their specialty. Even scarier is that these jobs are often low paying and hold very little opportunity for advancement. Everyone has heard about the Starbuck’s barista who has 2 masters degrees in English Literature but can’t find a ‘real job’.
Why is this happening?
We’re stuck in this belief that education will always grant us opportunity. The more we have, the safer more secure we are. It’s dead wrong. Ask an MBA who can’t find a job in marketing and can barely make their rent how education is doing for them. Ask the Lawyer who’s passed the bar but swimming in debt all while working insane hours how that extra education is making feel.
As educators it’s our job to build a culture of entrepreneurship in the classroom to help prepare students for a world with infinite opportunity and (paradoxically) zero guarantees.
@jwood Love these powerful examples of how we must be mindful of the world beyond K-12 education and how we develop skills in our current students to be able to navigate and be successful in it.
@jwood – Do you have an example of how you might encourage the culture of entrepreneurship in your classroom? I love the expression “infinite opportunity with zero guarantees”.
Jen
In my gr 3-6 science class students are invited to create something new, interesting and helps improve or solve a problem in the world. Once they’ve pitched the idea to their peers and myself, they build and present it to their target audience. I can’t think of a better way to teach innovation skills than having a kid communicate the importance of their innovation to their peers!
@jwood I found your last quote particularly powerful. At times I can find myself in the trap of “you need to know this for university”. But what I need to remember is that their university degree might not lead them exactly to where they expected. Even as a chemistry and math teacher, I need to remember myself that it is less about skills they need to be successful next year at university and more about what skills I can help them to build that will be lifelong and lead to innovation and perserverence throughout. Thanks for sharing 🙂
“As educators it’s our job to build a culture of entrepreneurship in the classroom to help prepare students for a world with infinite opportunity and (paradoxically) zero guarantees.”
@jwood I would strongly recommend the book “Creating Innovators”. In this book are many examples, strategies and ideas for the answers that your looking for.
Here is my review of the book from the summer: http://cohort21.com/garthnichols/21st-century-skills/book-review-creating-innovators-wagner/