These days, it’s often hard to tell if American students are lazy or just plain stupid.
A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development argues that we are lagging behind most industrialized nations in skills and knowledge. The report put us holding steady at 16th in literacy and sliding down to 21st in numeracy out of 23 countries, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But more importantly, a new metric that tests “problem solving in technology-rich environments” ranks America 17th out of 19 countries.
In a globalized economy where competition for jobs comes from across the world, this is bad news for all students hoping to enter the workforce after college. So, although your LSU degree is becoming less and less useful in the United States, it will become even more obsolete when we try and enter a global job market.
At least, that’s the theory.
This creates a great problem for all of us hoping to be employed when we graduate. And as with all great problems in our society, it should not be fixed by the government.
If the United States is to remain a pre-eminent economic and political power, then our private sector will have to find ways to cope with the changing global atmosphere. Since working and middle class jobs continue to be outsourced or eliminated by technology, there will be little for them to do without the technical skills needed to perform available jobs.
This fires up the old argument that those from lower incomes are getting screwed by companies that are seeking to hire people with more expensive education.
However, if these same people don’t have jobs, then taxpayers will have to bear the expense of extra entitlements, and our economy will have to bear the rise in unemployment.
This, I assure you, is not the wish of any sincere capitalist.
Luckily, we live in a country where there is the semblance of a free market. If a massive amount of our population needs jobs, eventually the market will evolve so that they can become employed. Or, more likely, the employed will adapt to the new market.
This is where private enterprise needs to enter and pick up the slack.
If we are moving into an age where jobs will become more technical, then our companies — not our public institutions — will be the first ones to change. American corporations will need to provide on-the-job training for those who have not mastered necessary technical skills. And our workforce needs to do all in its power to learn these skills.
This remains the most plausible solution in a country where capitalist enterprises are exponentially more adaptive and creative than government entities. Look to the United States Congress for an example.
Although it’s noble to believe an overhaul in our education system could better prepare our students in math and science, that’s like believing the government can somehow solve poverty through massive spending and economic programs, like Lyndon Johnson.
So as our generation stands on the cusp of crossing the scary line into the “real world,” it’s up to us and our future employers to find a way out of this mess. And though it may seem ridiculous for a corporation to cater to the needs of the people, it is for their own well being that Americans remain competitive with their counterparts around the globe.
In the movie “Moneyball,” Brad Pitt throws out his arms and proclaims, “Adapt or die.” This has been the case throughout human history, and it holds today as we see our country fall behind the rest of the world. Surely, a bit of American innovation can solve the problem.
But you may not want to take it from me. After all, 15 other countries have students who could have written this better.