This post, originally from Sept 20, 2012, seems to refer to links or other posts, which are not present. Reposting it today to Go Ahead Caller…and also Best Links Ever. Maybe someone will locate a link and add in a comment? If we had a rating system for posts, as Kris was wondering do we have a “like button”…maybe we can add a “star rating system”…but if we had a rating system, I’d give this post 4 stars.
Also the post title seems to be referring to Gary’s Higher Ed Crisis post from yesterday.
Toffler along with McLuhan, have “proved out” to be two of the more useful savants from “the 60s”…
Original Post starts here:
The full Toffler quote:
In the future “illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write, but by those who cannot learn and relearn.”
As Gary re-pointed out, and as we know, learning now is something everyone will be doing all the time all their lives. From the 2 year old that picks up the iPad, to the senior trying to figure out medications, to all employed, or looking to stay employed…
Here’s something from Friedman editorial that Gary linked:
“”””
Van Ton-Quinlivan, the vice chancellor for work force and economic development at the California Community Colleges System, explained to me the four basic skill sets out there today. The first are people who are “ready now.” That’s people with exactly the right skills an employer is looking for at the right time. Employers will give the local labor market and schools the first chance at providing those people, but if they are not available they’ll go the “shortest distance to find them,” she said, and today that could be anywhere in the world.
Companies who can’t find “ready now” will look for “ready soon,” people who, with limited training and on-the-job experience, can fit right in. If they can’t find those, some will hire “work ready.” These are people with two or four years of postsecondary education who can be trained, but companies have shrinking budgets for that now and want public schools to do it. Last are the growing legions of the “far from ready,” people who dropped out or have only a high school diploma. Their prospects for a decent job are small, even if they are ready to “work hard and play by the rules.”
The unemployment rate today is 4.1 percent for people with four years of college, 6.6 percent for those with two years, 8.8 percent for high school graduates, and 12.0 percent for dropouts. “””””””
#2gary575 on 21 Sep 12
This brings to mind that life-long learning is not a new concept – it is more the fact that the nature of the learning and the training have changed. In the era of crafts, one went through an apprenticeship and many interveninng steps before becoming a craftsman.
This is also exhibited by going to annual arts & craft shows. I am continually fascinated at how the artisans grow and evolve their work over time – this is obviously “learning”.