By concentrating too much on classroom-based academics with four-year college as a goal, the nation鈥檚 education system has failed vast numbers of students, who instead need solid preparation for careers requiring less than a bachelor鈥檚 degree, Harvard scholars argue in a .
Leaders of the at the Harvard Graduate School of Education argue for an education system that clearly articulates students鈥� career options as early as middle school and defines the coursework and training required, so young people can chart an informed course toward work, whether as an electrician or a college professor.
The Feb. 2 report arrives as experts are trying to define what skills are necessary for work and for higher learning.
The proposal from an esteemed school of education sparked immediate concern by raising the specter of tracking, in which disadvantaged students could be channeled unquestioningly into watered-down programs that curtail their prospects.
The Harvard study also drew notice because it was driven in part by the concerns of one of its co-authors, , a champion of higher academic expectations for all students, who said he began to doubt the wisdom of a 鈥渃ollege for all鈥� approach to education. Another co-author, , the director of Harvard鈥檚 Achievement Gap Initiative, is a national expert on improving learning opportunities for disadvantaged children.
Job Demands
The authors contend that their vision would expand opportunity for all students, especially those who face the dimmest prospects now because their education stops at high school. Rather than derailing some students from higher learning, their system would actually open more of those pathways, they say, by offering sound college preparation and rigorous career-focused, real-world learning, and by defining clear routes from secondary school into certificate or college programs.
鈥淓very high school graduate should find viable ways of pursuing both a career and a meaningful postsecondary degree or credential,鈥� the report says. 鈥淔or too many of our youth, we have treated preparing for college versus preparing for a career as mutually exclusive options.鈥�
The Harvard report echoes concerns, captured in a stream of papers since the late 1980s, that young people not bound for college face a daunting employment landscape. It draws on data showing that six in 10 Americans don鈥檛 earn associate鈥檚 or bachelor鈥檚 degrees by their mid 20s. In the next decade, half the new jobs will be 鈥渕iddle skills鈥� occupations suited for those with associate鈥檚 degrees, or vocational or technical training. Many of those jobs pay more than jobs typically held by workers with only high school diplomas, and some even pay more than the average job held by a four-year college graduate, according to the study.
It is that picture that has led President Barack Obama to urge all Americans to obtain at least one year of training or higher education after high school.
Drawing on European systems of vocational education, they argue for an American version of a 鈥渕ore holistic鈥� education that would involve employers in defining the skills necessary for work and providing internships, apprenticeships, and other opportunities linked tightly to students鈥� courses of study. Pivotal to such a system would be career counseling embedded in schools from early in students鈥� education.
A focus on better preparing students for middle-skills jobs is long overdue, said Anthony P. Carnevale, one of the job-market experts whose research is cited in the study.
鈥淚f there is one thing in education that I would tell the president to do, this is it,鈥� said Mr. Carnevale, the director of the . 鈥淪ince 1983 and A Nation at Risk, we鈥檝e been very single-minded about kids going to college. It鈥檚 good, but it鈥檚 too narrow.鈥�
But creating varied pathways is fraught with political peril because of the risk that some students will be held to lower expectations, Mr. Carnevale said.
In apparent anticipation of such concerns, the authors say that students would 鈥渘ot be locked into one career at an early age.鈥� But they also say that 鈥渢he coursetaking requirements for entry into the most demanding four-year colleges should not be imposed on students seeking careers with fewer academic requirements.鈥�
Premature Shift?
Some education advocates reacted with alarm to the recommendations, especially given the virtual absence of career counseling in the K-12 or community college system to help level the playing field between disadvantaged students and more-fortunate ones.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e arguing for different standards and separate tracks,鈥� said Kati Haycock, the president of the Education Trust, a Washington-based group that focuses on policies to improve education for low-income students. 鈥淓very single time we create multiple tracks, we always send disproportionate numbers of poor kids and kids of color down the lesser one. Until we can find a way not to do that, then people like me will object.鈥�
Mr. Schwartz of Harvard acknowledged that the report wades into 鈥渢ricky terrain.鈥� But he said that tracking is 鈥渨hen schools make decisions about what kids are capable of and what their futures are. It鈥檚 pervasive in our schools, and it鈥檚 a huge problem.
鈥淏ut I wouldn鈥檛 confuse that form of tracking,鈥� he said, 鈥渨ith trying to create a system in which by the time kids hit 16, they and their families have some real choices to make.鈥�
Michael Cohen, who succeeded Mr. Schwartz as the president of Achieve, a Washington-based organization that works with states to raise their academic expectations, took issue with the report鈥檚 depiction of the college-readiness agenda as having failed. Only recently, he said, have states adopted course requirements that reflect the skills and knowledge needed for college and good jobs.
鈥淭o say we鈥檝e tried this and it failed seems a bit premature, like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,鈥� he said.
In addition, he speculated, shorthand rhetoric might be confusing what people mean by 鈥渃ollege for all.鈥濃�淣o one is talking about preparing everyone for four-year colleges, or even two-year colleges,鈥� said Mr. Cohen. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a straw man. Everyone from the president on down is saying, 鈥楽ome form of training after high school.鈥� 鈥�
The report cites what it considers exemplary career and technical education programs, such as California鈥檚 Linked Learning initiative, which includes about 50 schools. At one of those schools, Construction Technology Academy at Kearny High School in San Diego, students study architecture, engineering, and construction along with the typical core curriculum. Some go on to apprenticeship programs, some to community colleges, and some to universities, but all students study the principles of engineering, computer-assisted design, carpentry, and electricity.
鈥淭here are no traditional separations between the students headed to one place and those headed to another,鈥� said Gary Hoachlander, the president of ConnectEd, a Berkeley, Calif.-based nonprofit group that supports Linked Learning schools. 鈥淭hey all study the same things. And those connections are what鈥檚 so powerful.鈥�
