Teaching Tomorrow's Skills: We need both basic and work-related education

by: Lynne Martin, U.S. Secretary of Labor
in: Washington Post, July 22, 1991, op-ed page.
note: boldface added

Robert J. Samuelson ["Gibberish on Job Skills", op-ed, Washington Post, July 11] has entered a debate on an issue critical to the future of the American economy. Should our students have an education experience that is relevant to the world of work? Samuelson thinks not. I believe that they should. Samuelson also says that "the best way to motivate students is to impose academic standards with teeth". I couldn't agree more.

The commission that produced the report that Mr. Samuelson criticized drew its recommendations from talking to employers about what skills entry workers need and from talking to students about why too many of them become turned off by the learning experience.

Beyond listening to employers and to students, the value of work-relevant education is driven by two basic assumptions. First, the workplace has changed and will continue to do so, and second, employers' hiring patterns have changed. We must enable the American work force -- today's students and those already at work -- to acquire the skills necessary to hold good jobs and to cope with a dynamic workplace.

Earlier this month I received the first report of my Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). This report describes what skills are needed by all workers for a successful career in the "modern" economy. It states that everyone needs [1] competencies, [2] a foundation of basic and higher order thinking skills, and [3] personal qualities that foster discipline and self-confidence if students are to succeed in the 21st century. The report is a first in several step process to produce the accountability measures that Samuelson believes are key to improved educational results.

The SCANS report calls for all students to acquire five competencies -- the ability to: (1) allocate time, money, and other resources (for example, to prepare schedules and budgets); (2) understand and use technology; (3) evaluate, process, and use information, including the use of computers; (4) work with others as a teacher, negotiator, and team player; and (5) understand, monitor, improve, and design social, organizational, and technological systems. The point of these work-based competencies is to enhance the capability of work force entrants and to motivate students to learn better the educational basics Samuelson correctly insists are so important.

Samuelson seems to agree with us about the foundation, but he disagrees with how those skills should be provided. We believe that schools -- and workplaces -- must provide structured opportunities for their acquisition. Some of our chief global competitors agree. A recent European Community report recommends that students acquire many of the SCANS skills through basic education.

Some critics believe that if schools would only return to the good old days of high standards and he 3Rs, the nation could effectively deall with international competition and new technology. We agree with the need for high standards and he 3Rs. Indeed, we estimate that fewer than half of all 21 to 25 year olds are adequately prepared in reading, writing, and mathematics. But today's world requires even more. We agree with Samuelson that the value of a high school diploma must be restored. Diplomas must reflect the demands of a changing workplace for broader skills beyond the 3Rs.

The commission includes representatives from industries that would be out of business if their product lines were unchanged from that of 40 years ago: IBM making card punch machines instead of personal computers, Motorola making car radios but not cellular phones, GE making refrigerators but not jet engines, MCI not even in the business of phone services. Why should schools and their curricula remain unchanged during this revolution in every other aspect of our lives?

The educators and the business and labor representatives think it is important for workers to understand the bigger "system" in which they are operating and the actions needed to improve it. Take Motorola for example. It is one of the few American companies to win an increased market share in the Japanese pager, cellular phone, and semiconductor markets and a Malcolm Baldridge Award for excellent quality. Motorola uses the five competencies to drive its Six Sigma Quality Program and is committed to not more than three parts per million defects in products or service to its customers.

When I visited union apprenticeship programs, the value of contextual learning was driven home when many young people told me that they finally understood why learning basics such as math was important. They said, "It's needed for the job".

Equally important, school districts have incorporated some elements of the SCANS approach into their teaching methods -- with real success. Dayton, Ohio, to take one example discussed in a Washington Post editorial [July 14], has "placed new emphasis on critical thinking, problem-solving, and hands-on activity for students. It's a procedure that forces teachers away from a strict reliance on texts and into demonstrations that require student participation". The result: "Students in five out of six of the elementary grades -- and in eight of 11 grades overall -- showed more than one year's worth of improvement from 1990 to 1991".

These skills are not narrow and apply to all kinds of jobs in every field. They are not easy to acquire and acquiring them is to call all students to a higher standard. Samuelson asks if the commissioners believe this "nonsense". Well, the letter I signed to parents, employers, and educators suggested that readers of the report "not take our word for it" about the competencies. We -- the commissioners and I -- asked them to test the conclusions in their own communities and offered to help them do it. Samuelson's suggestion is that, instead, you not read the report and hope for a return to the good old days of the 19th century school. I think not.