Commentary: We Need School Choice to Prepare Kids for New-Collar Jobs Be the first to know

Upcoming graduates will step into a rapidly changing workforce, with a growing number of “new-collar jobs’’ requiring specialized, technical skill sets. Both families and employers have invaluable insight to share in the conversation about how the education system can meet these changing demands. If we want to strengthen our education system and prepare for the economic needs of the workforce, school choice is the way to do it. For our education system, the best time to adapt to more personalized and collaborative learning choices was yesterday; the second-best time is now.

The future of learning is changing: Beyond creating a world online, advances in artificial intelligence, cognitive technologies, and robotics are upending traditional assumptions about jobs and technology’s role in the workplace. The pandemic has accelerated technological advancement and underscored the task the next graduates will face in rebuilding a post-pandemic economy. Today’s students will step into a world full of opportunities for new-collar jobs; the Institute for the Future estimates that up to 85 percent of these jobs do not even exist yet.

So, what does this mean for education? For kids wanting to seize these opportunities, having transferable skills will be more important than a degree. For many, a strong foundation in science, technology, engineering, and math skills will be invaluable. And for some, apprenticeship and certification programs will be essential. School choice—the process of allowing every family to choose the K-12 educational options that best fit their children, whether that’s a traditional public school or homeschooling—lets all kids access customized education and transferable skills.

Indeed, families are fidgeting for educational change. They sense the changing economy on the horizon and are looking for learning opportunities that give their child the best shot at a happy, successful life. Across the U.S., parents are already starting to reimagine how schools might function in the future. During the pandemic, 63 percent of U.S. parents considered finding a new or different school for their child.

Where education fits just aren’t working, families are turning to microschools, online schools, and other innovations. These new or expanding school choices are allowing families to find educational pathways that tap into their child’s interests and equip them with transferable skills for the future.

These disruptions to the education system are heartening for the future of the workforce as well as for equitable opportunity for families. Every child is unique. One child may thrive at their STEM-focused magnet school, another may study construction in a career-technical charter school, and another may explore software-building at a microschool. School choice can simultaneously honor children’s uniquenesses and equip students for new-collar opportunities.

As education breaks free from classroom borders, public school districts have a new opportunity to invite community participation and solicit community feedback. Here in Virginia for example, the New Horizons Regional Education Centers (NHREC) is an outstanding learning partnership, where employers, public school leaders, legislators, and families are working together to provide career and technical education options for students in local school districts. The largest of nine regional centers in the Commonwealth of Virginia, NHREC has become a benchmark for community partnership. Through it, educators and families are discovering that career technical initiatives valued by employers can provide an equitable gateway for each student to achieve their career goals and dreams. We should spread more opportunities like this across the state.

This School Choice Week (Jan. 23-29), the Association for Manufacturing Excellence celebrates the many forms of school choice—public schools, private schools, microschools, online learning, career technical collaboratives, and more—and the value these offer the workplace. Just as technical skills equip students as ready to work, school choice in its many forms equips families with opportunity. Used well, the workforce and society can be better off for it. Through school choice and encouraging greater school collaboration with employers and families, students can be prepared for the new-collar jobs that await them.

Glenn Marshall, Newport News Shipbuilding Career Pathways (retired), is on the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) Management Team initiative for leading a “Manufacturing Renaissance” and a member of the Reshoring Initiative Job Creators Network. For more information contact marsh8279@aol.com.

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