Should Employers Intervene in Education?
Should HR and employers be more involved in designing education curriculum to better reflect jobs? If so, why?
Here I go again on education,,, I know it seems that I am against education,,, or that I always discourage people from continuing their education, but it is the exact opposite, when the destination is set , the journey should be clear (to a certain point of course), but what is happening now is that the journey is set and the destination is unclear!
I remember when I was fresh out of university and was entering the job market, wherever I looked experience was the number one “skill”, now that I am working I see why, but it is still an issue, employers say that fresh graduates lack the hands-on knowledge. This really begs the question: Should employers intervene in education?
Well, honestly I would say absolutely yes, and here is why:
- Employers will know what they need:
Charles-Guillaume Étienne once said: “Étienne penned the phrase, “On n’est jamais servi si bien que par soi-même” which has been translated to the well known: “If you want something done right, do it yourself”. And I do agree, nobody knows the business like the actual business.
- Employers are the target:
Why does anyone pay so much time and money to get a degree?
- Love of studying and research
In this day and age it is rare, for which there should be special research university.
- To get a job
Which takes us to the main point, the final destination is a successful career, and to get there you need a start.
- Employers will not have an excuse
George Washington once said: “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one”. Whether it is an excuse or the truth, at the very least this way will stop it.
- Education will have clear purpose
Who knows more about this purpose but the companies that will be hiring them, they will know the exact needs, not only for today but for the future.
- Education will be easily evolving to the better
Why does it take too long for a change in curricula? Is it politics? Or is it bureaucracy? whatever the answer is, it really doesn’t matter, the only casualties in this are the students. If employers were more deeply involved the evolution of education would be aligned better with the business.
- Students will be readily available to work
Think about it from a business point of view, the students will be ready to work on day one! or as a maximum after the first couple of weeks,,, compare that to the current 1 to 3 years to train employees.
There are definitely more points to make for this idea, also there are risks for giving this important part of life to the “evil employers”, and I will get in more details on this matter in the future. Also I will explore how should this collaboration look like. So until then, best of luck in your careers and studies.
