By Marvin Garcia |Staff Writer|
New college graduates are entering the workforce unprepared.
This is affecting their eligibility for white-collar jobs based on study results collected by the Council for Aid to Education organization (CAE).
The CAE did this through their Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus test (CLA+).
According to The Wall Street Journal, the CLA+ is intended to measure the intellectual quality gained by students throughout their four-year college learning, and reflect the student’s level of critical thinking, analytic reasoning, document literacy, and written and verbal communication proficiency,
CSUSB Public Relations professor Donald Girard believes there is some truth in the situation, and added that students should treat the educational process as a two-fold enterprise where they are given the knowledge in their field to succeed in their chosen profession and to prepare them for the highly competitive nature of today’s job market.
In a similar report by Ryot News, there are several assumptions about the reasons for recent graduates, which includes the current status of the economy, this generation’s work ethic practice, or colleges focusing too much on social aspects and less on academic criteria.
Moreover, the subject is also related to college graduate unemployment, where a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that about 8.5 percent of graduates between the ages of 21 and 24 are currently unemployed and about 16.8 percent in the same age range are underemployed.
Another survey commissioned by The Association of American Colleges and Universities found about 91 percent of employers find the capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is far more imperative than a candidates’ undergraduate major.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Jassalyn K. James, who oversees the CLA+, said that even when students have proven remarkable growth during their four-year college learning, they fall on a low-point start where they may not be proficient in such skill sets by the time they graduate.
This is especially true with important transferable skills that are applied nowadays in many white collar jobs.
Girard has continuously built writing standards into each of his courses and stresses the benefit of going to the Writing Center in University Hall, for further improvement.
Students at CSUSB see things differently when judging their educational quality.
“The quality of education I receive here is good. Everything so far in my time here has been great for what I need to know and do for my field [P.E. instructing]and I will be able to use it once I get my job,” said student Christian Lara.
Student Melanie Marcias expressed her satisfaction with the education offered here and is confident that she will be able to retain and be proficient in the skills required to obtain as well as succeed in whatever career she chooses to set her sights on.
“My marketing professors relate a lot to the real world corporations, and they apply lots of concepts from the books, and that has helped me in narrowing my choice on what I want to be once I get out,” said Marcia.
The CAE is committed to helping educational institutions aiming to improve the learning outcome of students.
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