"Why do I have to do all these math percentage problems?" Ever had to answer that question, posed by a bored eleven-year-old looking for a way out of homework?
Having worn out the because-I-told-you-so line, maybe you tried to explain that one day knowing how all those percentages work would come in handy ... like when your child grows up to be an astronaut, careening through space with only 60 seconds to calculate whether the percentage of fuel left in their spaceship is enough to get home.
It would be awfully embarrassing to lose your astronaut's license because you couldn't do percentages, now wouldn't it?
Connect School to Real Life
You might not have known it, but those little inspirational talks are at the core of the push toward what's called "school-to-work" or "authentic learning." It's about motivating our kids to learn by helping them see the goal.
Why do we want to spend time and energy on that? Because one day our sons and daughters will be mechanics and medical doctors, and we'll all depend on them to fix our cars and cure our cancer. As children come to see how their learning applies to solving real problems that they care about, they are more likely to take skill mastery seriously.
More and more schools are seeking ways to make that connection in the classroom. The result is not only new motivation to learn, but also new ideas about how and what children need to learn by graduation.
Not every 21st-century child will grow up to be an astronaut, but even tomorrow's mechanics will need very high-level skills to work with new technology.
"All children should be in a program with stringent academic requirements," said Valerie Becker, director of National Education Programs for Chrysler, "whether they are going into a manufacturing trade or college."
Today's Jobs Demand High-Level Skills
"There is no longer going to be a demand for simple physical labor," said Becker. "Today entry-level line workers at our plants need to be able to use computer terminals and handle statistical analysis. Students entering the trades have to pass a high-level math test. Schools are going to have to have higher standards."
In many schools, the career preparation focus starts as early as kindergarten, putting a new emphasis on such basic character issues as being on time, serving others and keeping promises.
Parents can play a key role. For instance, flipping through "Learning & Working" by Dorothy Rich (1996, Fox Web Press), a family workbook aimed at the upper elementary grades, you'll find home exercises for children. One shows how you can help your child clock how long it takes to get ready in the morning. Stories help the child see how kids who are always late to school could one day be fired for being late to work.
Real Work Experience
In the Midland County school-to-work program in Michigan, as students move from elementary to high school their learning gets tied closer and closer to the world of work. Fourth graders may start out talking to adults at a career day. By seventh-grade, students are taking self-assessment tests to gauge their interests and aptitudes, researching careers they like.
By the time they reach high school, school-to-work focuses attention on helping students recognize the skills they will need after graduation to either get a job or progress to postsecondary study.
Students have an alphabet soup of options that may include apprenticeships, learning by volunteering, trade certification programs, cooperative education where students receive training in a part-time job and job shadowing, where students follow someone through their work day.
Some of this used to fall under the term vocational education. Yet definitions are shifting, as lower skill vocations begin to demand higher aptitudes and new high-tech careers multiply. Schools are more likely now to have a "tech prep" or "career pathways" counselor.
Expect High Standards
As parents, the first question many of us ask is whether participation in a dedicated school-to-work program will limit our child's ability to get accepted to a four-year college. It's something you should check out because programs vary a great deal in their outcomes.
Some programs are geared toward direct entry into the workforce, while many "tech prep" programs aim at giving students an early start on two- or four-year degrees in fields like nursing or engineering. Any program that's worth its salt will stress strong academic mastery, and you should expect no less.
But job analysts suggest that while it's important to get a well-rounded education, many families blindly base all their decisions on chasing the traditional four-year college degree. Stories abound of college graduates who flip burgers for a living; at the same time, demand is growing for people to fill high-skill jobs in the US economy.
Whether your child chooses a technical program or a liberal arts degree in the future, the earlier he or she can see the connections between school and work, the better. When students grasp the real-life applications for their studies, they're more likely to be motivated and more likely to achieve - and ultimately, it's their early success that will determine the choices they can make down the road.
For more information on connecting academics to the real world:
Learning & Working: Basics for Children by Dorothy Rich, Ed.D. Fox Web Press 1996, 202-466-3633.
Bryan Taylor is president of Partnership for Learning. Part of a family of teachers, he works to raise the quality of debate on education reform.