The Sunday, November 18th New York Times' Sunday Review Section includes an article (see link
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/opinion/sunday/Friedman-You-Got-the-Skills.html?ref=opinion
by Thomas Friedman in which the new job market is discusssed vis-a-vis education; there is an insightful remark by someone we have all heard of. After reading the article and posting a summary of the article and your views about the author's and yours, be ready to discuss these in class for extra credit.
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The article is mainly about how many jobs now require certain skills that most people do not have. They give the example of Tapani not being able to find a welder for her company until she finally was able to find one who was certified. It used to be possible to get a decent job by learning basic skills taught in places such as high school. Middle class jobs are now considered jobs that have high skills and a decent wage. Many blame the US educational system for failing to keep up with the skill demand that most jobs now require. The president of Miami Dade College, Eduardo Padron also makes a statement about how it is no longer possible to get a job with just basic skills and education nowadays is no longer considered a luxury since many people can now easily get one.
ReplyDeleteThe article begins with Traci Tapani a C.E.O of a sheet metal company discussing the difficulty of finding the skilled workers that employers need to run local businesses. She speaks about a personal experience in which she had difficulty finding welders. Since Tapani trained a woman and made her an in-house instructor for her company. The columnist then goes on to say that the only reason for such high unemployment is the combination of the recession we are in and merge of information technology which is wiping out many middle-skilled jobs. He concludes by stressing the importance a higher education has on finding a job in today's economy.
ReplyDeleteThe article started off by talking about this woman who inherited a sheet metal company from her father. When the economy started collapsing, her company was working with another company contracted to armor humvees. So she was pushed to hire more employees to meet the higher demand. There were alot of people that knew how to weld but none of them knew the science behind it or how to explain it. Her small company was more focused on low quantity, more quality tech-jobs, unlike the chinese firms that focuse on high volume low tech-jobs. She had alot of people applying but none that match what she was looking for. They all knew how to weld but didnt understand the science behind what they where doing. She invest in a single mother who already knows how to weld and has her trained so she can help train the future prospect of the company.Instead of depending to much on the high schools to train welders. The artcle went on to explain that Americas job problem came from its poor education. Too many students are being pushed through the system by being teached how to get the answer, instead of understanding how they got it. Then they go onto the work force not being able to aquire thos hightech jobs because they dont meet the requirments for the job.
ReplyDeleteThe assigned article pointed to a topic that’s been of importance lately within the education sector—that most US students in the middle and high school levels lack basic STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) skills to succeed even in a trade, let alone a professional career. It detailed the hurdles a welding factory owner went through in order to find employees that were qualified welders. Though most of those she came across could weld, they did not understand the basic metallurgical principles involving welding. Being a recipient of a government contract to armor Humvees, it meant she had to hire workers who could not only weld, but who also understood the science behind welding to meet the standards of the U.S. government. It was also encouraging to read quotes from our college’s president intertwined with those of Harvard-educated economists. Dr. Padron drove the issue home when he commented about the role of education in today’s economy—in essence that the most important deficit is not the fiscal deficit, but that of a lack of understanding in the value education has in today’s market economy.
ReplyDeleteThe article begins with CEO Traci Tapani speaking about the problem she faced in 2009, which leads to the main point of the article; that it is not the lack of initiative of people to work, or the lack of jobs, but the lack of proper training and skill. The days of high school education being enough for a job that will provide for you and your family is long gone making a college education is a must. Which is sad because the quality of education has decreased while the need and demand for intelligence and knowledge in the STEM fields have increased. Our fiscal problem will not be fixed if we do not start working on not only education but skill application.
ReplyDeleteThis article starts off by telling us about Tapani that onwed a metal sheet company for 19 years. She partnered with a company that had contract to armor humvees therefore she had to hire 10 welders but none of them knew the science behind it they only had the skill. Her company focus on low-volume and high tech job. It concludes by telling us that the reason why we had such a high employment rate is because we have jobs that require more skill and more education. The people have the skill but they do not have the education. Thats why education plays a big role in our economy in today's world.
ReplyDeleteIn the article “If You’ve Got the Skills, She’s Got the Job” Thomas L. Friedman discusses the biggest challenges of society today, finding skilled workers to run local businesses. The article discusses how Tapani, a CEO for her sheet metal company, needed new employees but none of the applicants had enough skills to meet the standard for armoring Humvees. Tapani explains how the high school shop class graduates cap out a certain level yet the common welder has to be able to read and understand at least five different design drawings in a single day. They solved their problem by training their own workers to fit their needs to adapt to “the quick response time” demanded for “changing skills.” Friedman says “We’re in the midst of a perfect storm: a Great Recession that has caused a sharp increase in unemployment and a Great Inflection.” He believes that many Americans aren’t ready for decent paying jobs because those are the jobs that require more skill and education.
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ReplyDeleteIn last Saturday business article: “If You’ve Got the Skills, She’s Got the Job”, Thomas L. Friedman gives his personal perspective on society current dilemmas with trying to find skilled workers. He emphazises a interesting story about Tapani, a CEO that was looking for employees to hire for her company; she was not able to find enough on the educational level on any individual. He argues on how some employers have the need to teach their workers more skills in order to hire them. The author also concludes with the main idea that people should earn a higher standard and skills in order to obtain a "decent" job.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion if there is a need of more skills for decent paying jobs, then this will put pressure on two groups of people to take action. High school students would have little or no choice but go to college and attain skills required to work in a decent paying job. Also the government would need to facilitate continued study for teachers and professors to stay updated on what skills today's markets require employees to possess.
ReplyDeleteThis article speaks about a welding company that discovered they needed to find workers that had a high level of knowledge about welding's science, technology, engineering and math. The welding company hired a lady who passed the American Welding Society Certified Welding Inspector exam and had her train the rest of the staff. The article went on to say that the economy is in need of workers or employees with higher skill levels due to the demands in certain markets.
ReplyDeleteThis article addresses one of the biggest challenges today: finding the skilled workers that employers need to run local businesses. It mentions how Traci Tapani, a CEO of a sheet metal company, had a hard time finding qualified welders. The problem wasn't the applicants themselves, but the fact that they did not have enough skill to meet the standards for armoring Humvees. She was able to fix this problem by training a woman to become her company's in-house instructor, thus no longer having to reply on schools to train her employees. Welding is a STEM job involving the knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math. Today to many Americans aren't ready, because more skill and more education is required of them. U.S. Education tries hard to keep up but it is still not enough. For example, Spanish immigrants used to be able to earn enough money to live here in the U.S. through a decent job doing repetitive tasks, but that's not the case anymore. The more people realize that the big issue in America is not the fiscal deficit, but the deficit in understanding about education and the role it plays in the knowledge economy, the better we can equip ourselves to meet the job challenges and lower the unemployment rate!
ReplyDeleteIn this article we can realize that in today's economy is not just about having some skills, is about having a certification, a college degree, and be a professional in whatever you do. Tapani received lots of applications from lots of welders, but none of them had the enough skills to meet the standards that she was looking for and the standards of the U.S military in order to armor the Humvees. The unemployment rate is about 8% in the United States today but there are thousands of jobs available. The problem is that people do not have the education to perform those jobs.
ReplyDelete