Texas State Technical College in Waco understands the need for teaching skills that will lead to employment. The Texas skills gap, just like what is occurring in the rest of the United States, grows wider as aging laborers reach the retirement age.
Efforts Are Under Way to Tie College to Job Needs
The Texas Tribune
By Reeve Hamilton
The New York Times
Assaying the output of higher education in Texas, Michael Bettersworth evoked the image of a crippled Apollo 13 craft hurtling into space, its future uncertain.
“Houston, we have a problem, and it’s not that too few people are going to college,” said Mr. Bettersworth, an associate vice chancellor at the Texas State Technical College System. “It’s that too many people are getting degrees with limited value in the job market.”
Students throughout Texas are amassing college credits without knowing whether they will lead to employment, and many face serious debt when they graduate.
Meanwhile, the state’s population of skilled laborers is aging and approaching retirement, and there is a dearth of recent graduates with two-year vocational degrees who can take on those jobs.
Experts say a retooling is in order if the state hopes to expand its manufacturing industry.
As the economy begins to show signs of life, efforts are under way at two-year colleges across the state to make programs more responsive to the labor market. Some Texas leaders are trying to reverse the trend toward encouraging students to attain the highest degree possible.
Read the complete article and more at nytimes.com – HERE
One Comment
“Some Texas leaders are trying to reverse the trend toward encouraging students to attain the highest degree possible.”
This is the mistake. This is preceisely what happened 20-30 years ago.
Institutions/leaders thinking in absolutes is what creates trouble.
Instead of trying to teach one thing over the other, how about teaching that things can happen in tandem with one another… inculcate a sense that they should.
Don’t try to reverse what has been taught; salute it and incorporate new thinking into it.
Two different ways of learning and attaining an education, two – or more – options can be viable, can be valid. And, in fact, must be so.