Mind the Gap
As I’ve traveled across this state, I have heard parents express concerns that their soon to graduate son or daughter will lack the necessary skills to succeed in entry level jobs, I have heard business leaders speak about the demand for labor outpacing supply, and I have heard industry indicate that they fear we are not preparing enough young adults to offset the labor needs as more and more of our state reaches retirement age. Quite simply, our State faces a skills gap – there are available jobs that require specific skills that our workforce lacks.
This gap will only widen if we do not harness the resources of our educational system. Take manufacturing as an example. Since the recession, South Carolina has recruited more than 64,000 jobs in manufacturing making our State one of the fastest growing in the industry. Some of these jobs are coming to South Carolina as companies grow or as they bring back jobs to the Palmetto State that were once going overseas. Imagine what that kind of growth in one industry means for our State.
The biggest threat to this economic development is whether our State is producing a workforce to meet and take advantage of the needs of these types of jobs. These are jobs that require computer skills, math skills, reading and writing skills, specific industry certification, and maybe even associate degrees. These are jobs that are in the grasp of our high school students if we prepare them well.
Where We Stand Today
Our State is well positioned given efforts already underway. For example, we have implemented SC WorkReady, a Governor Haley initiative that I am proud to have participated in launching. SC WorkReady helps our current high school students identify the skills that they have mastered and the skills they need to improve based on the jobs that today and tomorrow’s workforce demands.
I am also proud to have helped launch the Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) in 2005. Through the EEDA, education in made relevant by working with parents and students in identifying a graduation plan that matches a child’s God-given aspirations and dreams to course offerings in high school.
The EEDA also brings together local leaders in the public and private sector to find ways to match the economic development needs of local communities to the efforts in education. The intent is to set up mentoring programs, apprenticeship opportunities, deploy career specialists to serve schools, and to help schools line-up the courses that support the individual graduation plans that students and parents choose. If a school does not offer what child wants to pursue, they can transfer to a different school under this law.
What’s Next?
Even with these efforts there is still much work to be done.
We need more support for our career and technology centers. We must improve access to programs that promote trades and industry certifications that our students can explore and take advantage of. We are losing the interest of too many students who would remain engaged in school if they could pursue their passions in areas such as computer science/programming, construction, automotive services, culinary arts, electrical engineering, healthcare, agribusiness, and other fields that have strong prospects. We need to strengthen the partnerships that are available between our state’s middle and high schools and our technical colleges.
Additionally, we need to talk about the future differently. Bachelor’s degrees are great, but let’s empower students with information on what different professions offer. We can continue to esteem careers that have traditionally been held with high regard but we can also draw our children’s attention to professionals that represent areas where they can take advantage of projected labor shortages and opportunity growth to draw a salary that allows them to enjoy all that this great state has to offer.
As you next State Superintendent of Education, I will fight to individualize education. We need to empower our students with the educational options that best fit their needs and interests.
Fortune favors the prepared. Let’s prepare our children.
As I’ve traveled across this state, I have heard parents express concerns that their soon to graduate son or daughter will lack the necessary skills to succeed in entry level jobs, I have heard business leaders speak about the demand for labor outpacing supply, and I have heard industry indicate that they fear we are not preparing enough young adults to offset the labor needs as more and more of our state reaches retirement age. Quite simply, our State faces a skills gap – there are available jobs that require specific skills that our workforce lacks.
This gap will only widen if we do not harness the resources of our educational system. Take manufacturing as an example. Since the recession, South Carolina has recruited more than 64,000 jobs in manufacturing making our State one of the fastest growing in the industry. Some of these jobs are coming to South Carolina as companies grow or as they bring back jobs to the Palmetto State that were once going overseas. Imagine what that kind of growth in one industry means for our State.
The biggest threat to this economic development is whether our State is producing a workforce to meet and take advantage of the needs of these types of jobs. These are jobs that require computer skills, math skills, reading and writing skills, specific industry certification, and maybe even associate degrees. These are jobs that are in the grasp of our high school students if we prepare them well.
Where We Stand Today
Our State is well positioned given efforts already underway. For example, we have implemented SC WorkReady, a Governor Haley initiative that I am proud to have participated in launching. SC WorkReady helps our current high school students identify the skills that they have mastered and the skills they need to improve based on the jobs that today and tomorrow’s workforce demands.
I am also proud to have helped launch the Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) in 2005. Through the EEDA, education in made relevant by working with parents and students in identifying a graduation plan that matches a child’s God-given aspirations and dreams to course offerings in high school.
The EEDA also brings together local leaders in the public and private sector to find ways to match the economic development needs of local communities to the efforts in education. The intent is to set up mentoring programs, apprenticeship opportunities, deploy career specialists to serve schools, and to help schools line-up the courses that support the individual graduation plans that students and parents choose. If a school does not offer what child wants to pursue, they can transfer to a different school under this law.
What’s Next?
Even with these efforts there is still much work to be done.
We need more support for our career and technology centers. We must improve access to programs that promote trades and industry certifications that our students can explore and take advantage of. We are losing the interest of too many students who would remain engaged in school if they could pursue their passions in areas such as computer science/programming, construction, automotive services, culinary arts, electrical engineering, healthcare, agribusiness, and other fields that have strong prospects. We need to strengthen the partnerships that are available between our state’s middle and high schools and our technical colleges.
Additionally, we need to talk about the future differently. Bachelor’s degrees are great, but let’s empower students with information on what different professions offer. We can continue to esteem careers that have traditionally been held with high regard but we can also draw our children’s attention to professionals that represent areas where they can take advantage of projected labor shortages and opportunity growth to draw a salary that allows them to enjoy all that this great state has to offer.
As you next State Superintendent of Education, I will fight to individualize education. We need to empower our students with the educational options that best fit their needs and interests.
Fortune favors the prepared. Let’s prepare our children.
