“Limited Learning for Lifelong Labor”

The future of education in Pennsylvania is contained in a newly released state report: Keystone Commission on Education for Employment in the 21 st Century.

One statement in the report tells it all – “The Keystone Commission report should serve as an initial blueprint for building a unified system linking workforce development and education.” (p. 62)

Based on projected future labor needs of Pennsylvania, this report makes 44 recommendations for changing education to serve the economy’s shift “from a knowledge-based workforce to a skills-based workforce.” (p. 24)

This is a dramatic change in the purpose of public education. Instead of educating students so they acquire the knowledge needed to build productive lives, children will be channeled into a career cluster and trained for a job.

This new system demands that children select their “career pathway”from an approved list before entering high school. Elementary and middle school years will expose all children to available careers. High school and any postsecondary education will provide the skills needed for that career. Specific skills for a chosen career are emphasized, not general knowledge .

The Keystone Commission report predicts that 57% of future jobs will require only a high school diploma or two-year degree, while only 43% of the fastest growing jobs will require a four-year college degree. Therefore, graduating seniors will be funneled into a job or post-secondary program based on projected regional workforce needs.

Why would the Keystone Commission make these recommendations? The report states that the poor reading, writing and math skills of high school graduates has created a current and increasing shortage of qualified workers in Pennsylvania. Business demands better workers; Pennsylvania public schools will train them.

This approach to education may initially fit the needs of some students in some school districts. The promise of a specific job may keep more students in school. This plan, however, will eventually involve virtually all students.

The proposals outlined by the Keystone Commission are not unique to our state. This form of education, called “School-to-Work,” is spreading across the nation. In Missouri, Oregon and Minnesota, public education is inextricably linked to job preparation. By January 15th of this year, all ninth grade students in Minneapolis were required to select a career path that will determine the focus of their high school education. Pennsylvania is the next state to allow business and labor needs to dictate education policy.

The future outlined by the Keystone Commission for our children must be carefully examined and questioned before allowing it to become the only “blueprint” for education reform in Pennsylvania. One way to start the discussion is to read the Keystone Commission

Report.

March / April 2002

Reinventing K-12 education

Cyber schools. State Seals. The PSSA. These hot issues will soon be surpassed by an emerging reform – School-to-Work (STW) – that will change K-12 education in PA.

The basic premise of STW is that public schools should train students to meet the economic needs of business and communities. Instead of educating students so they acquire the knowledge needed to build productive lives in a free society, children will be channeled into a career path and trained for a job. To ensure this transformation of our education system, government and business will control the education process that will train and certify students for specific jobs and then retrain workers.

The Keystone Commission was established by the PA legislature in response to business concerns that entry-level workers lack basic skills and skilled workers leave the state. The Keystone Commission solutions will reinvent K-12 education so that, “by the end of the next decade, the education landscape will bear little resemblance to what we see today.” (p. 22)

If the Keystone Report recommendations are enacted, what will schools be like?

• Starting in Kindergarten, valuable academic time will be reduced so students can complete assignments and activities that will identify their career abilities and interests, and instill specific workforce values. Career exploration will intensify in middle school as students evaluate their individual interests and aptitudes in light of labor market projections. In 8 th or 9 th grade, students will select a career pathway that will determine their choice of academic classes and training in high school.

• School districts will employ career counselors and create career centers to assist students as young as 5-years-old in selecting a career pathway.

• As they progress from K-12, students will be exposed to an increasing number of speakers, field trips, job shadowing and work experiences, and classroom activities during the school day .

• At the high school level, academic, vocational and technical education will be fully integrated so that students will take only the academic and technical courses that relate to their career choice. Students will earn a diploma as well as training certificates for their career pathway.

• Vocational-technical education will be “aggressively” marketed to high school students and parents. The Keystone Report recommends immediate increases in vo-tech funding for equipment and staff to prepare for a vast increase in students. (Although vo-tech schools have been a valuable alternative to traditional education, never before would more than half of high school students be funneled into a vocational school to meet the labor needs of the community.)

• Community colleges will play a dominant role in STW. High school graduates requiring two additional years of job training will attend along with workers being retrained.

It is important to understand that ALL STUDENTS will participate in this school-to-work system . The Keystone Report predicts that only 43% of projected jobs will require a 4-year college degree. It is therefore imperative that only 43% of students attend a 4-year college . The other 57% will be channeled into vo-tech education. Long before graduation, students will know whether they will go into the labor force immediately, enter the military, receive two additional years of technical training, or attend a four-year college. The students will be sorted, trained, and certified for their future in a projected job market.

To ensure this education system transformation, many administrative reforms will be needed. Local control by elected school boards will be slashed as appointed regional Workforce Investment Boards (WIB), that are already in place, make job projections that will determine the employment needs that must be filled by high school graduates. New state agencies, oversight boards and departments will be created to control all aspects of STW. Private-public partnerships will be initiated to fund the STW system. Appointed bureaucrats at the state and local levels will control education and workforce development.

Many states are ahead of Pennsylvania in implementing STW education systems. Voices from Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon and other states decry the misuse of public education as job training. Pennsylvanians must understand these proposed education changes and ask some questions:

·     Is this a good system for ALL students? Why must STW be

      mandatory?

·     Can a 14-year-old child really select a career path?

·     How reliable are job projections? Are they reliable enough to

      control public education?

·     Where has this STW system worked successfully?

·     STW is designed to improve education so workers have better

      math, reading and writing skills. Is this drastic restructuring of

      education the best plan? Have other successful, proven reforms

      been considered?

·     What is the future for the small four-year colleges whose

      students will be diverted into job training?

Education and employment problems are continually in the headlines. Parents want students to do well in school and be prepared for a job or further education. The Keystone Report offers but one solution . Its recommendations must be fully discussed throughout the state and in the legislature so the detrimental effects of creating an education system that provides limited learning for lifelong labor can be revealed. Parents and students, not just well-meaning business leaders and bureaucrats, must help to mold the future of education in Pennsylvania.