Critics are claiming college isn’t getting students
ready for the workforce. Perhaps the issue starts before students even get to
campus.
A 2015 survey of students, faculty, and employers found
that only 14% of the instructors felt high schools did an adequate job of
preparing students for college, down from 28% in a 2004 survey. Just 29% of
employers felt students were ready for the workplace in 2015, compared to 49%
in 2004.
High schools are doing well at teaching computers and
technology, teamwork, and verbal communications. Unfortunately, there appear to
be major gaps in student preparation involving critical thinking, comprehension
of complicated content, work and study habits, writing, problem-solving,
conducting research, math, and science.
A bigger issue is that students indicated in the survey
they understood there were problems with their high school education. Nearly
90% said they would have worked harder if expectations for earning a diploma
were higher and 20% said it was “easy to slide by.”
“We know that our schools can do a better job of
preparing students for success in their next steps,” Michael Cohen, president
of the not-for-profit educational organization that sponsored the survey, said
in a report in Campus Technology. “We hear students saying that they are certain they would
have worked harder in high school if they’d been held to higher expectations.
It’s critical that schools clearly communicate the expectations of colleges and
employers early in a student’s high school experience and help them understand
the coursework they will need to complete. When we set rigorous expectations,
students can and will rise to the challenge.”