Lack of Skills Training in Common Core Standards for Schools

With the increase of technology and unemployment, pathway courses that teach and train students necessary skills in the workforce should be implemented in schools. Implementing pathway courses and skill training will assist students on their path to success. Courses that teach students the necessary labor skills will help them become prepared for their future careers in the workforce. These advanced courses should include a combination of hard skills and soft skills trainings. The hard skills will be learned through pathway courses and should include a variety of fields such as the medical and business fields. Pathway courses will expose students to their desired career and teach them the needed soft skills such as communication and problem solving that they will be needing in any job. The basic soft skills may be seen as unnecessary since the training involves tasks in our everyday lives, but K-12 schools do not teach students these skills. The current academic curriculum for U.S K-12 schools provides students with the basic knowledge needed such as Math and English. According to “Overview of the Common Core State Standards.” on NCSL, the common core curriculum consists of the following ELA and Mathematic standards: reading; writing; speaking and listening; language; algebra; and geometry etc. Labor skills are not a part of the common core standards. The curriculum educates us on the basics which is needed, but incorporating labor skills will benefit students for the rest of their work life. Adding skills training courses will be a small step into improving the continuous unemployment issue for future generations.

Some may argue that implementing skills training into K-12 schools will be expensive. Incorporating skills training courses requires highly skilled teachers as well as materials. Teachers are essential in the lives of students; they are students’ mentors. Without teachers, the courses will not be able to proceed. Even if teachers were hired, any teacher would not be adequate nor familiar with the new area of expertise. Therefore, adding courses requires hiring and paying teachers for their hard earned work. Materials will also be needed to give students a better education. Financial support would be needed to provide schools with the necessary materials for each pathway. It is understandable that with these needs the costs add up into large quantities. In addition, others may question where the money will be attained to establish these courses. The costs of incorporating skills trainings in K-12 schools will accumulate into large expenses and will not be able to be implemented into schools without support.

Although the skills training courses will be expensive, the courses can be funded by the top 1%. In her article “Here's How Much You Have to Earn to Be in the Top 1% in Every US State,” Kathleen Elkins states that in the U.S on average the top 1% generates $421,926 of income. In California, the top 1% generates $1.69 million per year. The average annual income varies among the different states in the U.S, but generally the incomes are large amounts. The richest people in the country have an abundance of money. The top 1% does not contribute economically, since they generate money and keep it saved. On the other hand, the middle class contributes greatly to the economy, since they typically need to buy necessities like clothes, food, and household items constantly. Additionally, taxes does not affect the top 1% because the U.S government does not tax them as much as the middle class. Therefore, the top 1% can contribute to society by funding these skills training courses and establish the courses in schools. The top 1% will not feel as if funding these courses is a drastic change because of the ludicrous amount of money they generate. Their constant income will replace the amount of money they fund the courses with and it will feel as if nothing ever happened to their bank account. Since the top 1% of the richest people in the U.S are not as taxed as any other social class, they should help contribute to society and the economy by funding these courses for the future generations.

Automation is continuously being incorporated in the environment as well as a variety of career fields. Technology makes production faster and more effective, but the advancement of technology has caused unemployment. If the issue is discarded, the future generations to come will be living in a competitive society with limitations on career choices. Once skills training courses are implemented in K-12 schools, students will be qualified and more prepared to work in their desired field. Implementing skills training in K-12 schools will benefit students in their future careers. The implementation of these courses is a small step to a future that will benefit students in their paths to success and reduce their risk of automation unemployment.

Works Cited

• Elkins, Kathleen. “Here's How Much You Have to Earn to Be in the Top 1% in Every US State.” CNBC, 27 July 2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/07/27/how-much-you-have-to-earn-to-be-in-the-top-1percent-in-every-us-state.html. Accessed 23 June 2019.
• Etzioni, Amitai. 'Transforming the active orientation: technology should help cultivate social and moral progress, rather than endless growth and consumerism.' Issues in Science and Technology, vol. 32, no. 3, 2016, p. 79+. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A451148627/SCIC?u=lavc_main&sid=SCIC&xid=ddea1965. Accessed 25 June 2019.
• Jin, Julia. “Luddism during the Industrial Revolution.” Luddism during the Industrial Revolution : Western Civilization II Guides, 24 Apr. 2012, westerncivguides.umwblogs.org/2012/04/24/luddism-during-the-industrial-revolution/. Accessed 26 June 2019.
• “Overview of the Common Core State Standards.” NCSL, 1 May 2014, http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/common-core-state-standards-overview.aspx. Accessed 26 June 2019.
• Ramos, Stefania. “Research Findings: Thoughts on Automation?” 24 June 2019. English 103, Los Angeles Valley College, student fieldwork report.
• Shell, Ellen Ruppel. 'AI and Automation Will Replace Most Human Workers Because They Don't Have to Be Perfect--Just Better Than You; Economists were skeptical that robots could permanently displace humans on a large scale. But look at what's happening to retail jobs: The economists were wrong.' Newsweek, 30 Nov. 2018. Science In Context, http://library.lavc.edu:2102/apps/doc/A562952658/SCIC?u=lavc_main&sid=SCIC&xid=4977f39b. Accessed 24 June 2019.