A calmer point about education

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Yesterday I went on a rant about education. After 24 hours I am somewhat calmer now but I would reference you to our website www.rjslee.com and under the articles tab please check August 2010 under Construction Equipment Digest. That was my take on education a number of years ago.

“The notion that a four year degree is essential for real success is being challenged by a growing number of economists, policy analysts and academics. They say more Americans should choose other options such as technical training or two year schools which have been embraced in Europe for decades.

Wow, what an earth moving change in thinking is finally upon us. Could it be that we are flooding the struggling job market with over qualified degree holders. Now don’t get me wrong a University education is a good thing. After all I made my living teaching at University for a time in my career. I believe in education. But there are gaps in our skills in the current workforce and coming generations. We can see severe shortages in many technical disciplines. Not the least of which is technicians.

Most parents today want their children to go to University. But they will clam up when asked what it is that these children should take at University or why they should go to University. They point to unemployment rates, perhaps, where University graduates have an unemployment rate of 4.9% versus 10.8% for high school graduates. But that doesn’t measure University against a Technical School education or a two year Junior College does it? They will point to the fact that a University Graduate will make $1,000,000 more in earnings over their lifetimes than a High School Graduate. Again the same problem exists; how does that compare to Technical School or a Junior College. And what about those growing student loans; they are now averaging, yes that is right averaging, over $25,000 per college graduate. That is a lot of money when it is paid back with net income dollars.

Perhaps we are getting to be asking the right questions at long last. Rather than propose that everyone should go to University let’s review the premise. What educational skills are appropriate for a new member to the work force?  The era of a general Liberal Arts degree being sufficient for the work force is passé today isn’t it? Ohio University Economics Professor Richard Vedder blames the cultural notion of “credential inflation” for the stream of unqualified students into the four year colleges, a common complaint from Universities across the country. :

Martin Scaglione, President and Chief Operating Officer of Work Force Development for ACT, the Iowa based not-for-profit best known for its’ college entrance exam, suggested nothing short of a new definition for educational success. He advocates “certification as the new education currency – documentation of skills as opposed to mastering curriculum.” As a former University educator I couldn’t agree more. We are focused too heavily on mastering curriculum at all levels of learning prior to post graduate degrees. It would be a wonderful change if we started maintaining an “inventory of skills”, certified skills.”

I am sure this needs to be updated somewhat but the premise is still there. We are in a changing world in many areas but also in education. How you attract and retain skilled workers is the challenge. The time is now.

Rant of the Day

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It is interesting watching two grown men argue about higher education. Santorum has called Obama a snob as he said that he wanted everyone to have a four year college education. The Obama backing off and saying he wanted more than just high school highlights a serious subject to consider. What should you do after high school?

I was with a client last fall and the room had about eight people. Three had Doctorates and four had Masters Degrees. I was the only person in the room without a degree, although I did have four years University training. I was wondering with all the educated people how were the “non-educated” going to make out. The problem today is that for many bachelor level degrees the level of Actual knowledge is not far above that which a high school leaving delivered several decades ago.

I keep watching the debates about education. We need smaller class sizes or higher teacher salaries. Several years ago I was asked to look at a project for the Los Angeles Unified School District. I think this is still one of the largest districts in the country. They asked me to look at their mobile equipment, school buses and the like, for maintenance and repairs. I asked to see the inventory list. They said they didn’t have one. Perhaps that is the first indication of some the problems in education. How is it being run? Well the first obvious area to look is at the school board level. Now you have to remember I am biased. I am a teacher.  But one of the first places I would look is the school boards – or more importantly all positions in education that are not in the classroom. The ratio is all upside down. We have too many people doing things that are not in the classroom and not enough in the classroom. But that is the result of the political position for education. Everyone wants a job but not enough know what to do.

Which brings me back to the current debate university or everything else?

Look at the cost of a four year “College” education and compare that to the earnings of four more years of a work life. Today there is almost a $500,000 difference. At university faculties we are starting to have more vigorous debates about the value of the junior colleges and trade schools. The American public has been conditioned over the past four or five decades to want to have a degree for their children. Consider that an article in a recent Forbes magazine noted that 15% of parking lot attendants have a college degree. I don’t think that was what was intended with the push of parents to have their children have a degree.

Today there is what is called a “skills” gap. We have lots of job openings which for one reason or another go unfilled.

There is a huge need for technicians in America. Where are we going to get them?

This is a problem that won’t go away. In the 1900’s the under educated could pursue a worthwhile career and life in agriculture. In the 1950’s that became the production line. What is the prospect today for the under educated? We need to get our arms around this problem and start to fix it or ewe truly will have a lost generation… or two. The time is now.

 

Service Technicians

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The complaints are still out there- “I can’t find any experienced equipment technicians.” Isn’t it obvious by now that anyone worth anything that has experience is going to be working already? If there is a technician available and they apply for work I am sure that you will give them a very thorough interview and background check.

We need to develop our own technicians. As obvious as that seems to be we continue to be in denial.

Hire willing young men and women (yes women) who have a mechanical aptitude and get them into a development program. Start as we did in the old days with one “help/trainee” for every two technicians. Set up a training program. Work with local technical schools and unions and customers who offer technical training. Establish a “career path” training program. It will take roughly three years to create a market ready technician.

There are wonderful programs at Oklahoma State University in Okmulgee for one which works with dealers and manufacturers to offer specific brand training programs. Caterpillar, John Deere, Toyota and Ditch Witch to name a few work with schools around the country on these programs. Check out your local area to find the schools that you can partner with in this area.

Caring about your employees, providing training and a safety aware work place will go a long way to retaining your employees. Some dealers, and extremely success dealers, have never had a layoff of technical employees. Imagine what that says to the employee.

The time to complain has long since passed – don’t you think we should start developing our own? The time is now…..

Can we make a difference

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The transition to team management while still encouraging curiosity is struggling as management doesn’t know how to encourage risk taking without contradicting the work of the team.

The story of the ages is that people will take risks when they have less to lose and be risk averse when they have a lot to lose. How to break through this paradigm will be a challenge.

To lower parts inventories while improving customer availability.

To guarantee completion dates on repairs while embracing employee satisfaction.

To retain customers while payment patterns change.

All of these challenges exist because we have been rather timid over the past years to tackle changes necessary in a meaningful manner. Now is the time.

Are employees looking around today?

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December was the first month in many years that had more people quitting their jobs than being laid off or fired. Is this the beginning of musical chairs with employees? Is the labor market now strong enough to absorb all the employees that feel they were hard done by over the past three or four years by their employers?

What should employers do to keep their employees satisfied and happy and stimulated in their work to retain them as employees?