Harvard Education PR Teaching Students About the World of Work: A Challenge to Postsecondary Educators (Work and Learning)

Teaching Students About the World of Work argues that educational institutions - especially two-year and four-year public institutions serving low-income students - need to make the topic of employment a central element in their educational offerings. Indeed, the book demonstrates that a far greater emphasis on teaching students about the work world will be necessary if colleges are to give disadvantaged students a realistic chance for professional and economic success. The recommendation is a reconfiguration of postsecondary education that represents a paradigm shift in career preparation and learning. Editors Nancy Hoffman and Michael Lawrence Collins and their authors provide a rich and comprehensive view of both today's work world and the challenges facing many young people who are determined to find a place within it. The book offers detailed accounts of how several community colleges have put employment at the center of the curriculum; provides practical insights into the twenty-first century labor market and ways to improve the choices and outcomes for low-income job seekers; and explores the daunting structural barriers to securing successful and satisfying employment. Throughout all its chapters, the book highlights increasing inequalities - in both opportunities and outcomes - within our society. In order to redress those disparities, it argues, postsecondary educators will need to offer enhanced insights and sophistication to disadvantaged young people preparing to enter and navigate the work world. An urgent but unfailingly reasonable book for our times, Teaching Students About the World of Work will be required reading for educators determined to create practical opportunities for young people in search of good employment and better lives. From the Back Cover <i>Teaching Students About the World of Work</i>&#160;argues that postsecondary educational institutions&#8212;especially those serving low-income students&#8212;need to make the topic of work a central element in their offerings.&#160;Editors Nancy Hoffman and Michael Lawrence Collins and their authors insist that increasing inequalities among Americans, including students&#8217; acquaintance with and preparation for the contemporary work world, make this heightened educational emphasis on work necessary.&#160; In their efforts to redress those disparities, the authors propose a reconfiguration of postsecondary education that represents a paradigm shift in career preparation and learning. Their book is an essential read for educators determined to create realistic opportunities for young people in search of good employment and better lives.<br><br> &#8220;<i>Teaching Students About the Worl</i><i>d of Work</i> offers a grounded, realistic overview of what it would mean to take work seriously as both a goal and as an object of study.&#160;It&#8217;s a welcome first step in a much larger project crucial to everyone in higher education: making the promise of equality come true.&#8221;<br><b>&#8212;Matthew Reed</b>, vice president for Learning, Brookdale Community College<br><br> &#8220;Focusing on community colleges, the authors make a convincing case that schools should better integrate the world of work into the college experience in order to help students develop the skills, confidence, and contacts to achieve professional and economic success.&#8221;<br><b>&#8212;Martha Ros</b><b>s</b>, fellow, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program<br><br> &#8220;To ensure that all students, especially those from low-income backgrounds and communities of color, earn high-quality degrees and credentials, postsecondary leaders must do a better job connecting the dots between education and the workforce.&#160;This book superbly makes that case and highlights the important role of&#160;community colleges in preparing students for jobs that can put them on a path toward economic mobility and prosperity.&#8221;<br><b>&#8212;Michelle Asha Cooper<