Future of Learning Top Reads for week of Nov 16 2020
“Graduates of Elite Universities Get Paid More. Do They Perform Better?” by Vasyl Taras, Grishma Shah, Marjaana Gunkel, and Ernesto Tavoletti, in the Harvard Business Review
“A busy HR manager is reviewing stacks of applications for a position that just opened in the company. The HR manager knows that a host of factors determine employee performance: prior experience, training, interpersonal skills, personality, IQ, emotional intelligence, and work ethic. But after reviewing hundreds of resumes, as many HR managers do, the details on each applicant blur together. And so the HR manager does what many employers do: defaults to selecting hires based on the prestige and rank of the university from which graduates hail.”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
If you want to hire people who are “good at school,” hire from elite institutions. But you just might find that the top 10% of any school are pretty talented, and some might add strengths you didn’t know you wanted or needed because you were too focused on the brand names on the CVs in the stack.
If I were a hiring manager, I’d be recruiting from HBCUs and state universities, because both places harbor tremendous talent pools of people of color.
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“Is This the End of College as We Know It?” by Douglas Belkin, in the Wall Street Journal
“Americans aren’t turning their backs on education; they are reconsidering how to obtain it. Enrollment in short-term credential classes during the pandemic increased by 70% to nearly 8 million over the same period last year, according to Jonathan Finkelstein, chief executive of Credly, a digital credentialing network. That increase came as freshman college enrollment dropped by 16%.
“As a critical mass of companies and nonprofits launch their own credentials that become valuable in the labor market, traditional colleges will lose their monopoly, says Christopher Dede, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education and the author of The 60-Year Curriculum. […]
“Less elite schools trying to stay relevant have begun offering shorter programs and creating longer partnerships with students, such as giving alumni the chance to brush up on skills through online classes. Four-year degrees will get telescoped into three and eventually two years, says Scott Pulsipher, president of Western Governors University. Academic credit will increasingly be given for work experience, and workers will return to school more frequently as the half-life of their skills shortens because of the accelerating pace of technological change.”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
First ask: who benefits from this? The real winners seem to be corporations, but there may be enough of a rising tide to help higher ed institutions reinvent themselves (and their business model). And assuming there is no “Wild West” of credentialing, more credential options that are cheaper and faster to obtain will benefit students.
Then ask: what is happening in my ecosystem that might affect me—even if I don't act this way? What is happening upstream and downstream from our school?
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“The $2 Trillion Question: How to Spend on Education for the Future,” by Greg Ip and Benoit Morenne, in the Wall Street Journal
“How do you invest in ‘human capital’? The answer used to be simple: go to college.
“Too simple, it turns out. The assumption that human capital comes from formal education—that if we just send more kids to college, incomes will naturally rise—needs to be revisited. The people, companies and economies that thrive over the coming decade will be the ones that recognize that building human capital requires a range of investments from preschool to job-specific training.
“Just as a business invests in its physical capital, such as machines and facilities, in hopes of earning a higher profit, a worker invests in human capital via time and money sunk into education and training in hopes of earning more per hour. Adam Smith noted as much in The Wealth of Nations: ‘The improved dexterity of a workman may be considered in the same light as a machine or instrument of trade.’”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
Problem #1: referring to people as “human capital.”
Problem #2: using to Adam Smith as a frame of reference for 21st century economics and labor.
Conversely, this picture of people development can help you re-conceptualize the purpose of college in particular, learning in general, and humanity above all.
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Do you know a high school student, gap year student, or first year college student who might want to earn college credit for learning to design solutions to the world’s most important social problems?
They can apply for a spot in the December 2020 or January 2021 Expeditions.
School leaders can apply to send a team of students by contacting us directly.
Click here for details about the Dec 28-31 Expedition.
Click here for details about the Jan 15-18 Expedition.
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