Education for Tomorrow's Jobs (1983)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

i Education for Tomorrow's Jobs Susan W. Sherman, Editor Committee on Vocational Education and Economic Development in Depressed Areas Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1983 

ii National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sci- ences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of further- ing knowledge and of advising the federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which establishes the Academy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corpora- tion. The Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the govern- ment, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970, respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences. This project has been funded with funds from the U.S. Department of Education under contract number 300-81-0306. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or poli- cies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government. Library of Congress Cataloging Publication Data National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Vocational Education and Economic Development in Depressed Areas. Education for tomorrow's jobs. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Socially handicapped youth—Education—United States. 2. Vocational education— Economic aspects—United States. 3. Socially handicapped youth—Employment—United States. 4. Industry and education—Economic aspects—United States. I. Sherman, Susan W. II. Title. LC4091.N367 1983 370.19'31 83-17304 ISBN 0-309-03392-6 First Printing, September 1983 Second Printing, April 1984 Third Printing, August 1984 Printed in the United States of America 

iii COMMITTEE ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COLIN C. BLAYDON (Chair), Vice Provost, Duke University WILLIAM A. MORRILL (Vice Chair), Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Princeton, N.J. CHARLES S. BENSON, Department of Education, University of California, Berkeley CHARLES E. BRADFORD, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Washington, D.C. PAT CHOATE, TRW, Inc., Washington, D.C. PEDRO GARZA, SER-Jobs for Progress, Dallas, Tex. JAMES M. HOWELL, First National Bank of Boston JANICE MADDEN, Department of Regional Science, University of Pennsylvania PAUL E. PETERSON, Committee on Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago GEORGE R. QUARLES, Office of Occupational and Career Education, New York City Board of Education WILSON C. RILES, California State Department of Education, Sacramento ISABEL V. SAWHILL, The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C. RICHARD F. SCHUBERT, Bethlehem Steel, Bethlehem, Pa. FRANCIS T. TUTTLE, Oklahoma State Department of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater DAVID A. WISE, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University SUSAN W. SHERMAN, Study Director BARBARA A. MALONE, Administrative Secretary 

iv 

PREFACE v Preface The Committee on Vocational Education and Economic Development in Depressed Areas was established at the request of the U.S. Department of Education in October 1981. This request reflected the general public concern over the country's deteriorating economic condition, particularly unemployment and inflation. The charge from the department to the committee was “to undertake a study of collaborative efforts among business, industry, and community-based organizations and the public sector in the vocational education of residents, particularly minority residents, of economically depressed areas.” We were urged at our first meeting by the Under Secretary of Education and the Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education to bring a new perspective to the relationships among vocational education, economic development, and the private sector. When this committee began its deliberations, unemployment among older teenagers was more than 23 percent and unemployment among black teenagers was approaching a staggering 48 percent. At the same time, the weaknesses in our economy and fundamental changes in the patterns of American employment were having a profound impact on older workers, such that overall unemployment was reaching the highest levels since the Great Depression. It was in this environment that we began our study of vocational education, which is the part of the education enterprise that deals most directly with the ties between work and learning and which should hold out significant hope for education to have a long-term impact on the opportunities of young Americans throughout their careers. 

PREFACE vi Within the broad mandate that we received, the committee identified and addressed those problems that we saw to be of the most pressing and immediate concern. In particular, we focused on how vocational education, in collaboration with private-sector employers, can improve the employability of young Americans and enhance their long-term contributions to the economy. In doing so the committee chose to examine the role of vocational education in overall economic development and did not restrict itself exclusively to issues associated with vocational education in depressed areas. We believe that the challenges and opportunities facing vocational education are not unique to depressed areas, although the severity of the problems that must be overcome is certainly exacerbated by weak economic conditions. We also chose to direct our analysis and recommendations to the education and training of young people who are just embarking on their employment careers. This emphasis reflects the importance that the committee placed on the attainment of basic employment and learning skills that are necessary for successful participation in a continually changing economy. The committee considered the important issues concerning the retraining of older workers displaced by the changing economy but decided that the problems of these workers were sufficiently different as to require separate study. Just as the committee began its deliberations in an atmosphere of concern about the national economy, we are now completing our work in an atmosphere of concern about the state of the American education system. This report focuses on that part of the education system that deals most directly with the lifetime relationship between learning and work. The current circumstances provide an opportunity for actions to be taken that can have fundamental and long-term effects on the education system. It is in this setting that we put forward the analysis and recommendations contained in this report. COLIN C. BLAYDON, CHAIR COMMITTEE ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN DEPRESSED AREAS 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii Acknowledgments A number of people have contributed significantly to our work. In addition to the expertise and knowledge brought to our discussions by the individual committee members, we also convened workshops with outside participation and commissioned two papers. We wish to thank John Bishop, Henry David, Richard Elmore, Becky Hayward, Gerry Hendrickson, Charles Mallar, Elizabeth Reisner, and Sean Sullivan for their presentations and participation in our workshop discussions. Two committee members, Paul Peterson and Charles Benson, also made valuable presentations of their work at one of the workshops. In addition, the committee is indebted to the authors of the two papers: Michael E. Borus, author of “A Descriptive Analysis of Employed and Unemployed Youth,” and Sean Sullivan, author of “Private Initiatives to Improve Youth Employment.” Their work provided valuable assistance to the development of this report. One person who was not a member of the committee contributed generously of his time and expertise. Charles Cooke, a colleague of committee member Wilson Riles, participated actively in the committee's deliberations and provided valuable information for the report. He deserves our special thanks. We wish to thank Robert M. Worthington, Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, and his staff at the U.S. Department of Education for their support and assistance as sponsors of this project. Glenn Boerrigter, Doris Gunderson, Howard F. Hjelm, Jack A. Wilson, and Steven Zwillinger all deserve our appreciation. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS viii Susan W. Sherman served as study director for this project from its inception. Her skillful organization of the research effort gave substance to our deliberations, and she bore the responsibility for writing successive drafts of this report with tact and good judgment. We owe our thanks, too, to other members of the National Research Council staff. Barbara A. Malone served as administrative secretary to the committee, thoughtfully arranging the details of our meetings and providing secretarial support. Jose R. Dizon capably assisted in the preparation of the final manuscript. Heidi I. Hartmann, associate executive director of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, provided valuable substantive advice early in the project. Alexandra K. Wigdor, study director of the Committee on the Performance of Military Personnel, was generous with her guidance and intellectual support of our efforts. David A. Goslin, executive director of the commission, and Eugenia Grohman, associate director for reports of the commission, read drafts of the report and made valuable substantive and organizational suggestions. Christine L. McShane, editor of the commission, in editing the report made significant contributions in matters of substance as well as style. Finally, I wish to thank the members of the committee for their candor, their equanimity, and their hard work. COLIN C. BLAYDON 

CONTENTS ix Contents Summary 1 1. Youth Unemployment in a Changing Economy 3 2. Education and Training for Employment 22 3. Vocational Education and the Private Sector 47 4. Strengthening Vocational Education: Conclusions and Recom- 63 mendations References 84 Appendixes A. Selected Tables on Youth Employment and Unemployment 91 B. Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff 113 

CONTENTS x 

xi Education for Tomorrow's Jobs 

xii