In her 2012 memoir, Penny Marshall (stay with me here) discusses growing up in the Bronx in the 1950’s.  Even though she and her friends skipped along sidewalks freely at age eight, every now and again they wanted to cross the Grand Concourse.  They grabbed the closest adult.  “Hey Mister!” they’d say, tugging his shirt.  “Cross me?”

 

Higher education must change. More young people are going to college than ever before, but the gap between low- and high-income college completion has grown.  On-campus realities don’t help:  tangible inequities, jaded faculty, and a grading system so inflated and courses so outdated that hiring managers question the very idea of a college degree. It’s true — companies are growing impatient with the minds that universities are producing.  A recent Gallop-Lumina survey found that only 11% of employers believe recent graduates have workforce-ready skills, and only 25% think they’re well prepared in analytical reasoning, written and oral communication, and applied knowledge. 

 

Higher education has changed once before.  To attend college in the 16th and 17th centuries was to extrapolate Biblical law and translate Greek drama. Its teachings had little practical value. But in 1869 Charles Eliot assumed his position as president of Harvard, noted the fast and shiny new nation, and launched higher ed from the dark ages into the industrialized world (read The New Education by Cathy Davidson for more on this fascinating history).  Look around at most universities — its requirements, disciplines, specializations:  that’s Eliot.  Now look around at your world — its unpredictability, its connectivity, its diversity.  Either we keep skipping along, ignoring our new reality, or we cross over to the other side.  Crossing over requires inclusive curriculum, visionary ideas, high expectations, and classrooms malleable enough to meet the demands of every type of learner. Students deserve the chance to develop the complex problem-solving skills they’ll need to take on this slippery, insecure world.

 

Higher education can change again.  We are facing a Grand Concourse kind of situation here, and public schools — you incredible principals, in particular — can get all of us to the other side.  Speak with your teachers about active classrooms.  Give your counselors room to investigate college alternatives.  Keep preparing your students to be drivers of change.  As someone who talks regularly with young people, I know that they believe in your leadership. Many of them replicate it when they reach out to people like me for help. The leaders who can revolutionize education don’t wait for a hand to tug at them.  They stop, scan the sidewalk, and grab the hand that won’t.