In
a world where companies are challenged in finding strong employee
applicants, many employers cite younger applicants as lacking strong
Life Skills. The generational comparison is usually connected to the
cause blaming college preparation and "those devices". Due to tuition
inflation colleges in particular have become the "fall guy". The
argument for what is paid in tuition there should be an expectation of
college preparation ignores the historic and cultural value of college.
Yes, college is coincidental with the maturing of a student's life
skills. But this is not the legacy role of academic institutions.
Asking the scholar culture to teach personality skills is no different
than asking a science professor to teach English.
Colleges
were created for the aristocracy to teach academic skills to their
children. It was an elite privilege. The Industrial age demanded more
candidates with specialized skills and the post WWII era further
expanded college populations as women entered the workforce. Throughout
this century of college student demand growth, the academic mission
remained very similar and course offerings broadened primarily along
academic boundaries. Primarily in the last few decades, the curriculum
expanded outside of specialized degrees (Law, Medicine, Engineering
etc.) to added career focused studies.
Students
develop social and life skills in their formative first 18 years not
because it is part of their course load at a University. The social and
cultural environment on campuses are petri dishes for development of
these skills. The teaching of Life Skills comes from parents with help
from academic role models. Parents teach discipline. Parents put the
guard rails on behavior and shared experiences with their offspring as
examples of acceptable and appreciated courtesy and skill sets. These
are taught throughout all the formative years in every culture by
parents. The thought that 18 years after parents have provided this role
and that this responsibility shifts to academic institutions just
because of their proximity to students is redefining the college
mission. The reason that many students do not possess these skills is
more as a result of parents vacating their role.
There are reasons why it is different in the 21st
Century to raise children. Technology alone has changed playtime as
well as social development in many ways. But more impactful has been the
role of parents. Today with more than 70% of working age women in the
workforce, the two-earner household has changed parenting forever. Two
jobs and two careers upends the dynamics of past generations of raising
children. Higher divorce rates, increased medication and slower teen
social development skills are all coincidental attributes recognized
throughout the USA (and much of the world) as a result of these factors.
So,
what is a society to do to address this relatively new phenomenon? The
knee jerk reaction has been for colleges to assume this training role
as part of career services. Not only is this not their role, but there
is no training (or financing) for this. To expect a "twenty something"
tutor or a full-time professor to substitute for a parent is not
applicable and professors have training and expertise in completely
different specializations. Parents must recognize this cannot be
vacated earlier in a child's life and just because of college cost
pushed onto the college agenda. Parenting is teaching these skills. If
there is a shortfall in these skills for employers, then responsibility
is for parents to find adequate and focused training and development of
life skills. If colleges are to assume this responsibility, then the
corresponding financial resources and expertise becomes a new
responsibility as well as a definable value. Colleges should help but
with dedicated and defined resources.
Parents
are increasingly vacating the role as parents. There is not enough time
with two careers. There are more responsibilities of everyone in two
earner households. It is easier to cajole, be a friend to a child and
not discipline them. Having defined family time while splitting the
roles of everything from transportation to flexible work hours is much
more complicated with dual careers. But let's not kid ourselves.
Parenting is not being a child's best friend. It is not simply cuddling
and giving out participation trophies. It is the little lessons of life
that are decreasingly being taught as the role of parents evolves and
the legacy definition vacated. Don't expect a new generation to be the
same when their role models are different and the very structure of
their upbringing dependent on new factors. Colleges need to rethink
their role as the new-found providers of Life Skill training and if they
are providers the role needs to be defined and funded as well as
measurable. Employers need to step up as well. The expectations of
parents and students needs to consider that if the life skill attributes
they desire and employers value are to be taught they need to be the
providers. Send us your comments. We love the sharing of views.
