This past week, the Council for Aid to Education published results of its testing 32,000 students on 169 university campuses across the US. They found that four in ten students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work. The skills tested included the ability to read a scatter plot, construct a cohesive argument or identify a logical fallacy. Most troubling was that even if there is notable growth in these skills over four years, many students are starting at such a low point, they may still not be proficient at graduation.
Is it any wonder that employers continually complain about new graduates who lack the basic attributes to thrive on the job? But there is no purpose in casting blame here. Millennials, who represent the majority of those tested, are products of the influences around them. Policymakers’ endless debates about assessment, testing, dollars for education and so on are missing the point. It takes a community to help young people learn these skills. That’s you, me, parents, individual teachers, the supervisors on the job, the leaders in the community and everyone else who touches these lives. For most, its not human nature to seek out the experiences that teach life’s critical thinking skills. They must be compelled to do so.
Consider the young people around you everyday. The next time one of them comes to you for the answer, don’t give it to him. Tell him to “figure it out.” The outcome will be discovery, knowledge and confidence.