April marks the 35th anniversary of the landmark education report “A Nation At Risk,” in which President Reagan’s Commission on Excellence in Education highlighted the erosion of education standards in America and the failure to meet the needs for a globally competitive workforce. Since this famous shock to the national education system, learning in America has gone through many changes to help the workforce keep pace and thrive in a constantly evolving global economy.
While many perceive America’s education system as having made progress in the intervening 35 years, the United States remains at risk when it comes to its rapidly deteriorating infrastructure and the cliff from which the full-employment of the construction industry is dangerously hanging. As it was in 1983, the nation’s education policy and those administering it are in desperate need of reform if the country is to be put on more reliable footing—and it is up to the business community to be the leaders of that change.
The genesis of the change must come from broadening the awareness of the American public and changing the conventional wisdom of post-secondary education. For many, the knee-jerk reaction to promoting more career-focused, post-secondary learning is to promote a four-year college degree. This is a mistake.
Many important professions require a four-year diploma for very good reasons. However, in these professions and industries, the value employers place in college is not that someone was simply accepted by the admissions department, but rather in the completion of specific courses of study and the validation of skills or knowledge.
Unfortunately, the conventional wisdom for the nation’s education system has been that the only path to prosperity can be found by simply “getting into college” or “going to college,” rather than deliberately attending college with the intent of completing a degree and adding value to the economy. This is a mistake that has caused a drag on the nation’s economic potential by marginalizing high-value skills and careers while plunging entire generations of Americans into crippling debt.
The data on this front is staggering. According to a 2017 study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, only 60 percent of students who begin college complete a degree after six years. What’s worse is that many of those individuals who do complete college aren’t able to find jobs that relate to those degrees. The New York Federal Reserve reports that only 27 percent of college graduates will actually get a job related to their major. Do the math: At a price tag that could exceed $120,000 over for years, college is a very risky investment.
These risks have very real economic consequences. Americans’ outstanding student loan debt continues to skyrocket, and stood at a staggering $1.38 trillion at the end of 2017. Of that aggregate student loan debt, 11 percent was more than 90 days delinquent or default. At the same time, industries such as construction are facing huge workforce shortages because younger generations are not pursuing skills-based learning after high school.
The proposition of jumping directly into college is the only choice given to students who want a post-secondary credential and a chance at a successful lifestyle. Meanwhile, U.S. roads and bridges are in desperate need of repair, construction employers are desperate for young talent and thousands of high-earning careers are going unfilled.
Ultimately, the construction industry must lead the way in changing the conversation about giving the next generation of students a competitive advantage toward their career and lifestyle goals. Skills education programs in the construction industry—like those offered in apprenticeship programs across Associated Builders and Contractors’ 70 chapters—combine value-driven, skills-based education, on-the-job learning, workplace experience and great wages. Right now, not enough Americans are hearing this message.
Policymakers are beginning to hear this message from employers, but meaningful change has still been elusive. Career and Technical Education (CTE) is chronically underfunded and undervalued by the federal government, having declined 27 percent during the past decade. While continuing to underfund career-driven skills education, investment in two- and four-year colleges continues to grow. The federal government provided nearly $80 billion, excluding loans, to support students pursuing higher education in 2017.
It is up to the industries that drive the economy to speed the closing of the awareness gap that exists between the true landscape of opportunities and the ones that future generations are given. Given the student loan crisis, an infrastructure in disrepair and misaligned education resources, the United States is truly at risk. The workforce of tomorrow is going to follow the priorities that employers, educators and policymakers set today.
