The Employability Skills Hoax
The Employability Skills Hoax
Written by bunPeiris.
Meden Agan (μηδὲν ἄγαν) – ‘Nothing in excess’
[An inscription at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece]
In the beginning it was only snares: Soft Skills. Now they have begun to flaunt the guns: Employability Skills. If the concept of Soft Skills is the camel’s nose, the notion of Employability Skills is the whole grotesque beast itself. A large rent in the tent of ESL [English as a Second Language], EFL [English as a Foreign Language], TESOL [Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages] TEFL [Teaching English as a Foreign Language] studies. A definitive dent in the fabric of moderation. What was in moderation then, now has become in excess. Everything has to be tempered with moderation: “Nothing in excess”.
Purposes of Education
What has been on show now is the perversion of the purpose of education, the premise of very progress of the humanity, to suit the needs of rampant capitalism. Philosophers beginning with Aristotle have argued on the purpose of education. Aristotle [384–322 BC] stated that, “A man should be capable of engaging in business and war, but still more capable of living in peace and leisure; and he should do what is necessary and useful, but still more should he do what is noble. These then are the aims that ought to be kept in view of the education of the citizens both while still children and at the later ages that require education.” (1333a9) (Suppes) Aristotle does not mince words to emphasize what ought to be the focus of education: infusion of nobility in conduct. Good citizens. 2340 years since the death of Aristotle, someone writing in a blog would simply say, “purpose of the education is the development of intellect or sharpening of reasoning power.” And by intellect, he would mean a mind capable of seeing right from wrong, truth from lie in a split second.
Human Interests
In modern times manifold concepts are brought into the argument on education. Among the numerous modern educationists who contributed with novel concepts in education is American philosopher educationist John Dewey (1859-1952): “the common theme underlying Dewey’s philosophy was his belief that a democratic society of informed and engaged inquirers was the best means of promoting human interests”. (Gouinlock)
Human interests ought not be overridden by capitalists interests. The University of Wisconsin, U.S. A. proclaims that “The mission of the system is to develop human resources, to discover and disseminate knowledge, to extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses and to serve and stimulate society by developing in students heightened intellectual, cultural and humane sensitivities, scientific, professional and technological expertise and a sense of purpose. Inherent in this broad mission are methods of instruction, research, extended training and public service designed to educate people and improve the human condition. Basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth.” (Regents, The University of Wisconsin System Mission)
It is these very phrases, “the search for truth” and “improve the human condition” that Gov. Scott Walker wanted to have deleted in his 2015 budget proposal of State of Wisconsin. The American daily, “The Nation” cracked a sarcastic headline, “Scott Walker Objects to “the Search for Truth”. Stunned educationists accused Gov. Scott Walker of trying to kill the Wisconsin Idea [the founding principles of the university developed by UW-Madison president Charles Van Hise in 1904], which has guided the mission of the state’s public higher education system for more than a century. Walker failed. That was following the president of the University of Wisconsin System, Ray Cross’s, reaction to the proposed re-writing of the system’s mission statement. “The Wisconsin Idea is embedded in our DNA,” said Cross. (Herzog) He elaborated, “It is so much more than words on a page. It is the reason the UW System exists. It defines us and forever will distinguish us as a great public university.” Scot Walker backtracked from striking ‘truth,’ ‘human condition’ from Wisconsin idea.
Workforce Development
Gov. Scott Walker tried to emphasize workforce development over the traditional Wisconsin Idea. Walkers move provoked well reasoned responses from all quarters. “It’s a very materialistic definition of knowledge that’s very off-putting to me,” said James Baughman (Herzog) , a historian and Fetzer-Bascom professor at UW-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “We aren’t just training people to be workers,” said Baughman. “We’re training them to be citizens, to be leaders. It’s not that we don’t have a responsibility to serve people to get training, but it’s a lot more than that.” (Herzog)
The American Folly
Therein is a glaring example of what goes in U. S. A. Driven by its capitalism, U.S. A. expects the entry level employees to work in the same state of competency as the seasoned employees. It is in this unrealistic expectation, the modern capitalists accuse the entry level employees being academically qualified in their fields, yet not being competent in Soft Skills remixed and rebranded as “Employability Skills.”
However, an argument has emerged with respect of identification of Employability Skills: “Agreement is only found on some cognitive, technical, and relational skills. More importantly, it is argued that the supply-side approach overlooks economic and social processes that might affect employability. The problem of graduates’ employability transcends higher education institutions’ provision of useful and matched skills.” (Suleman)
Overburdening the students
It would be safe to say that the modern digital age graduate entry level employees are much better equipped than the same level employees of the bygone era in terms of dissemination of liberating information. Among the new aims are gaining competence in computer literacy and digital communication. Such endowments have come at a price: long hours of studies in these subjects. To integrate so called Employability Skills into TESOL or ESP is to overburden the students who would be better be made to engage in acquiring a superior degree in their fields coupled with competency in digital communication. [*1]
Digital communication in “A 21st Century Education”
A 21st century education is about giving students the skills they need to succeed in this new world, and helping them grow the confidence to practice those skills. With bewildering volume of information readily available to them, 21st century skills focus more on making sense of that information, sharing and using it in a mode of efficiency.
“The coalition P21 has identified four ‘Skills for Today,” “Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving and Communication and Collaboration” (P21 Parnership Framework for 21st Century Learning )
Then again, these four themes ought not be interpreted as units or even subjects. These themes demands to be overlaid across the whole spectrum of subjects, in curriculum mapping and strategic in the same grain that literacy and numeracy is. Therein the theme of communication requires to utilize multiple media and technologies: digital communication
Entry Level Graduate Employees
Entry level employees, if required, better be trained in so called Employability Skills at the work place by the employer itself, which is bound become a superior hands-on the subject training process.
In the circumstances, the question arises why should U. S. A. has begun to orient education towards employability of its university graduates. It is the American anxiety over the competition with Russia, Japan, and China for global economic military and political dominance that has spurred periodic calls for more effective workforce development. The situation is brought into the light by numerous channels inclusive of the financial statistics that are open to the world at large: Russia’s federal budget surplus is trillion USD 44.1bn in 2018 while the US government budget deficit is USD 100 billion in 2018; the U.S. debt to China is USD 1.17 trillion as of August 2018.
A model for Sri Lanka
As such, Sri Lanka need not apply a capitalist model borne out of Rogue States of America’s fears and anxieties to the education of her sons. Sri Lanka does not need to follow the nuclear bomber of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, twin decade long bomber of Vietnam and Middle East devoid of humanity. Sri Lanka may adopt a middle path between the ivory towers of lofty ideas such as “search for truth” one which allows its sons to value her living heritage of weve, pansala, dagoba [Sinhala: rainwater reservoir, Buddhist temple and stupa] which provide life-line sustenance [cultivation of paddy rice] and, spiritual succor [compassion instead of simply politeness, a superficial value]. That would be in addition to endowment with erudition and eloquence in English language, the competence in computer literacy, preparation for life-long learning and enrichment with digital communication.
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Foot-notes
[*1] Digital communication
Digital communication encompass developing websites and blogs , teleprocessing, graphic design, photography, and audio and video production, 3D animation, CD-ROM production and computer imaging. All of these methods of digital communication together constitute the “multi” nature of “multimedia.” Of these, blogs can be set up by students without being troubled to learn computer programming languages such as HTML & PHP. As such students and university undergraduates need to be encouraged to become digital sav’vy, i.e. make use of digital mode of communication so that all could present and share their knowledge, concepts, ideas, views and opinions to the whole world at large could be reached and discussions could be initiated.
Teacher-student convergence in digital communication in teaching
Most of undergraduates in the affluent countries today are Generation Z digital natives: born between 1995 and 2009, most of them do not remember life without the internet, and have had technology like smartphones, iPads, smart boards and other devices available throughout most of their schooling. Sri Lanka’s graduates do not precisely fall into this category. Even Smart board [1992] is still an alien product to them. Even where the smart boards are available those are not the latest generation wireless interactive whiteboard systems wherein all the students are able to connect, follow and record every and any moment or stage during the development of the lesson in their laptops.
Take your Ideas to the World: From Microsoft Office to Blogs
The students and undergraduates ought not be satisfied with merely the use of Microsoft office. The general usages of digital communication do not end at the Microsoft Office. In fact, instantaneous mass communication of Non-IT professionals begins with web logs or blogs.
The most popular free blog platform is WordPress.org. It powers 24% of all websites. WordPress.org is a free and open source software that has helped millions of people launch blogs online. It is a self-hosted solution, which means one will need to sign up with a WordPress hosting provider.
With WordPress.org, one owns his blog.
However, with WordPress.com, one does not own his blog. It offers a basic blog hosting service for free. One can purchase additional options like a custom domain name, additional storage, and other premium services. WordPress.com can suspend any account anytime if the blogger is found to be violating their terms of service.
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Works Cited
Gouinlock, James S. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dewey. n.d. <https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dewey>.
Herzog, Karen. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 04 February 2015. 21 November 2018 <http://archive.jsonline.com/news/education/scott-walkers-uw-mission-rewrite-could-end-the-wisconsin-idea-b99439020z1-290797681.html/>.
P21 Parnership Framework for 21st Century Learning . n.d. 21 November 2018 <http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework>.
Regents, Board of. University of Wisconsin System system mission. Ed. Board of Regents. 1 January 2018. University of Wisconsin. 18 November 2018 <https://www.wisconsin.edu/regents/policies/the-university-of-wisconsin-system-mission/>.
Suleman, Fátima. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into conceptual frameworks and methodological options. 01 August 2018. Springer Nature Switzerland AG. 17 November 2018 <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-017-0207-0>.
Suppes, Patrick. The Aims of Education. n.d. Stanford University . <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9918/46d0569ee28026435f63fe4df8a254fb6830.pdf>.
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