Knowledge Works

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out 

(Proverbs 18:15)

February has emerged as one of my favorite months to spend time online and on social media. During Black History Month, I get exposure to many dynamic stories that force me to evaluate what I was taught during my public school education, but most importantly, to seek additional knowledge and learning for myself. My professional background is not in education, but I have been spending a considerable amount of time in public schools in support of career readiness and workforce development. Last week, I heard a teacher’s reference to Margaret Ammond’s definition that the purpose of education has evolved from producing a literate society to producing a learning society (http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_update/eu201207_infographic.pdf).

Referring back to February and Black History Month: It was during this time last year that our church used the weekly announcements to focus on Education by introducing the congregation to stories of the Rosenwald Schools. During the early twentieth century, Julius Rosenwald, an executive of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, partnered with Booker T. Washington to build quality schools to educate black children in the south. The purpose of that Sunday morning program was to solicit people to contribute to preserving the history of these schools. To learn more about the initiative, visit https://savingplaces.org/places/rosenwald-schools.

That evening, I searched the related Fisk University archives (http://rosenwald.fisk.edu/) and proudly learned that I was a benefactor of the Rosenwald investment in education. My mother graduated from Holman School, one of three segregated high schools built in Arkansas County, Arkansas for black children. After desegregation in 1970, Holman remained a critical part of our community, yet there was a lot about the history of the school literally in my back yard that I did not know. Desiring to learn more, I came across this link that gave more insight into the legacy http://www.abandonedar.com/holman-school/.

Fast forward to present day and the education reform debate continues. I am witnessing the pendulum shifts from a focus on humanities, to STEM-centric, to the current STEAM emphasis. Without jumping into politics, it is safe to say that the current Education Secretary has not eased or enhanced the debate on what the country defines as quality education. At least today, education is still viewed as a human right. At this point, I am more grateful that as a parent and a lifelong learner myself, I am not limited to what is taught in schools, nor does curriculum limit my family and community’s education. Education begins at home.

Stay tuned and follow the journey of education engagement, economic development, and entrepreneurial readiness. We value your input. Feel free to comment, or drop us a line at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. 

Success in Good Works

I have learned that success is to be measured

not so much by the position that one has reached in life

as by the obstacles which he has overcome 

while trying to succeed.

Booker T. Washington

It's that time of year where prom season quickly transitions into graduation and new beginnings. In our family, my oldest niece is preparing to graduate from high school and head off to college in the fall. My middle niece is beginning to make decisions about whether her post graduation plans include vocational training or university studies. And my son is considering the courses he will take in high school, based on his CAP assessment. Three unique young minds with one thing in common, to answer the question, what do I want to be when I grow up?

When our mom grew up, the conventional wisdom was to get a good job and begin a family. A generation ago, we were told to go to college to position yourself for a long-term career. Our children, Millennials,  have so many options and possibilities, that it is challenging to make a decision today about finding career success in a world that is rapidly changing, that will not be the same a decade, let alone 40 - 50 years from now. So what advice are you giving to children trying to decide on secondary education paths?

Over the years, I have become an advocate of vocational training before deciding on a profession. If I had one regret about the decisions I made immediately after graduation, it is that I did not know how to do anything with my hands. I can solve almost any math problem put before me, but if I had to earn a living, I have no immediate skills to fall back on. Jokingly (and seriously), I always wanted to become a welder. Fast forward to present day and my imagination runs wild with the possibility what I could do in manufacturing if I owned and operated a welding shop!

If you look at the history of several well-known colleges and universities, many began as industrial training schools that met the immediate needs of the workforce during that era. Somehow along the way, industrial, or vocational training, became stigmatized as less valuable that university training, but is it really? When you consider the cost of attending a four-year institution, you have to ask, is the return-on-investment a real value in today's rapidly changing society. I challenge that notion.

Some of the most successful people that I know are entrepreneurs with in demand skills. I have a friend who followed his families' business as a master barber and has franchised beauty and barber shops around the region. By the same token, another friend is a plumber, a vocation whose skills always have and always will be in high demand. What both of these gentlemen have in common is they started with basic skills and transformed their companies into success stories not imaginable a few decades ago.

There are no particular route to finding success in the workplace and in a career. We used to measure success by the education required to obtain the job, or the job title earned. Today, our children have so many more options because the expectation is not to get a job, work for forty years, and retire from that company. Life and opportunity give them so many more options to consider that their measure of success will be different that how we defined it. And that is OK. The thing we have to instill in them is that regardless of the path they choose, it will require hard work and dedication to overcome the obstacles they will face along the way.  How are you encouraging the young people in your life to measure what they consider success in their purposed work? Feel free to comment, or send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post, and want to  catch up on some of my previous discussion, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.