Preparing Students for a Rapidly Changing World: Rethinking the Education System and Postsecondary Pathways

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Stakeholders in the education system are grappling with the question, "How can we prepare students for future jobs when we don't yet know what these jobs will be?" Many groups inside and outside of academia proposed that the students need to learn "21st-century skills," presumably different from the knowledge and skills that have been traditionally emphasized in schools. To what extent should the societal trends, labor market, and competition determine what and how we teach our students? Moreover, in the last century educators have separated college and workforce education, have retreated into contested and warring camps, and have ceded the mission to comprehensive high schools that arguably do a mediocre job of fulfilling both goals.. Furthermore, how does a growing emphasis on a college-going culture fit within the needs of an ever-changing workforce demand? Plentiful concerns are raised that the lofty goals of promoting social justice and democracy will be lost if we let the market drive our education and postsecondary pathways. Experts from vastly different fields and backgrounds will have a lively discussion on this fundamental question.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chairs

• April Z. Taylor, California State University - Northridge

• Patrick Mullen, The College of William & Mary

Presenters

• Cheryl Colethia Holcomb-McCoy, American University

• Paul Hong Suk Kim, Stanford University

• Patricia M. McDonough, University of California - Los Angeles

• Lourdes M. Rivera, Queens College - CUNY

Discussant

• Arturo Olivarez, The University of Texas - El Paso