Can Education Fix the Economy?

It is a tough question, but according to a report in Education Week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thinks it can. I know for sure that education can lift you out of poverty, but as I was reading the article, I wondered about the implications of this statement and what it would take to deliver on such a promise. Unfortunately, the article didn’t actually expand on what the great idea was, so I am none the wiser. 

At least it is giving me an opportunity to share a few thoughts that I have often discussed with our instructors over coffee.

The first thing I want to draw attention to is the need for education to follow the trends that are witnessed in the business world much faster than it currently happens. As a general rule, schools (as well as colleges and universities) curricula take way too long to change and adapt to the world around them. It’s the same the world over. What typically happens is that what is taught in terms of computing for instance is already out of date the minute teachers start to teach these subjects. Not only is what’s taught irrelevant to businesses, but students are often ahead of teachers anyway and quickly ‘switch off’ if they aren’t stretched.

This is something of a recurring topic at Escape Studios as we are often asked to explain our philosophy behind our teaching methods and our curriculum. We invest an incredible amount of time and efforts to ensure our curriculum follows the needs of the industry, as they actually happen. Now, don’t get me wrong, we are totally focused on a small part of the entertainment industry, so it gives us the ability to be incredibly nimble and react quickly to market demands. It also means keeping very close to the industry and working with professionals to understand what requirements they have. It is obvious to me that much larger teaching establishments would find it incredibly hard to follow the same process. As a general rule, they teach far too many subjects for this to be a practical option for them. This has often led me to wonder if most teaching establishments aren’t simply too large to actually deliver what students require…

The other thing that I often find frustrating is the lack of courage by successive governments to incentivize young people to pursue education in areas of business and industry that are experiencing growth. Shouldn’t we be shameless in our attempts to do that and invest money in growth areas? It stands to reason that it would be a good way to ensure that university and college students are more likely to get jobs after they graduate – a rather important point to consider at a time when the world is witnessing the largest rates of graduate unemployment… What do you all think?

For those of you who want to read more on this topic, I can highly recommend the report entitled "Stepping Up Skills: For More Jobs & Higher Productivity", published by the World Bank. You can download it here.