Harper Reed - My education wasn't actually teaching anything I needed to learn to get a job

Harper Reed, CTO of Obama 2012 made an interesting observation on the non-role and non-relevance that education often plays in non-preparing young people for the world of work. He said in an interview with Tech Crunch here:

"I realized about probably three-quarters of the way through my education that in terms of computers, I actually wasn’t learning anything I needed to learn to get a job later on. I did learn some coding concepts in college, but more importantly I figured out that I’m an experiential learner. I need to put my hands on things and really see them, and really chew on them. It was better to do it in a real context, where it mattered if I did it right. Like where there was money at stake. So, I did an internship in Iowa City, IA. I worked for a real company that was trying to make a profit. The company built ecommerce apps. As an intern I started learning web apps to build web pages. Given my way of learning, it was fascinating to see how the management dealt with me. I was a child. I asked questions like a child does. “Why is the sky blue?” They just said, “It’s just blue. Go with that.” I said, “No! Tell me why we’re doing it this way. What is this?” It was client services, so we were just doing it because the client wanted it done, with no thought behind it. But all the questions I asked gave me this opportunity to see how things worked and the value of asking things that seemed obvious to everyone else. It gave me a lot of hope. It really kicked off the career that I have now."

This reminds me of the Mark Twain quote:

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

An Open Letter from Sir David Bell

This is turning into a real dialetic of the Socratic Dialogues kind!

After my open letter essay to Sir David Bell, 'Why Sir David Bell is Wrong to Smack Down the Employability Concerns of University Students' was published on the Huffington Post, I was pleased to receive a response, among others, from Sir David Bell himself.

After making a request I've now got permission to publish his response. While Sir David Bell has put up a number of rebuttals to my points raised on the Huffington Post, I welcome the debate. Over to Sir David Bell:

Dear Brian, 

I read your recent Huffington Post blog post with interest. I’m glad you have drawn attention to issues of employability skills at university. It is a subject that is of genuine importance and it’s vital that we prompt debate among the public, as well as those with closer ties to the sector. I felt your blog raised some important points, but was some way wide of the mark on others.

With the current economic climate and increases in student contributions to tuition fees, it is inevitable, and in many ways welcome, that students are becoming more focused on matters of employability. However, I would argue, as was reported in the Times, that university courses ought not to be wholly ‘tailored towards employability’ – and I would disagree forcefully that university is a ‘sham’. Nor do I believe that degrees have been significantly devalued by widening access to higher education.

It is right that students today, more than ever, need to be given good career advice before, during and after attending university, to help them make informed choices. Evidence shows that other factors, such as work experience, are often crucial to a graduate’s job prospects. But this is not the same as turning degrees themselves into another form of vocational training. A good university education should be above all intellectually challenging, and help prepare graduates for the world, as well as the world of work.

I note from your website that you are interested in typography. We have an award-winning Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at Reading, which exemplifies this point marvellously. It provides courses that encourage study and research for the joy of learning and deepening understanding. They also support the development of practical skills, which contribute towards creating a highly-skilled workforce and help graduates get jobs. And with some success – 90% of former students are in work or further study six months after they graduate, and 95% of those with jobs are in professional or managerial positions.
Perhaps you’d like to come along to Reading and see for yourself? The department has a degree show for final year students from 18-22 June. More details, and a programme of the excellent work on display, are available from www.typofamily.co.uk.

 

With warm regards,

Sir David Bell KCB
Vice-Chancellor, University of Reading

Education's Information Asymmetry Ctd.

"In London there are 80,000 jobs in the technology industry; and yet last year, only 375 teenagers took an A level in computing."

- Debbie Forster, COO CDI Apps for Good

This is an absolute sham and highlights the absolute disconnect between education and the world of work. The process needs to be a symbiotic pipeline that makes the learning process as relevant to the real world and therefore the transition from education to the world of work as seamless as possible.

However the shockingly low number of teenagers studying computing at A level is symptomatic of Education's Information Asymmetry. I encourage you to read this link and leave any feedback, comments or thoughts you have.