‘Workforce ready’ is an empty phrase

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt ceremoniously kicked-off the 2025 Legislative Session on Feb. 3 and, similarly to last year, had a familiar sentiment to his speeches regarding education and universities – workforce readiness.

“If kids aren’t leaving high school college ready or career ready, we haven’t done our job. I want to sign a bill that creates more internships and apprenticeships. If we can get this right, we’ll lead the nation in workforce development. Companies from all around the world will move operations to Oklahoma because it’ll be clear that we have the strongest workforce anywhere. So I’m calling on businesses, schools and universities to create 250 new apprenticeship and internship programs this year.”

This quote comes from Stitt’s State of the State Address, a call to action for businesses, schools and universities to prepare Oklahoma youth and young adults for the American workforce.

While a seemingly powerful tool for the workforce and economic development in states, the assembly line of education to job to the hopeful career is a recent development in the grand-scheme of history and education.

Modern Education

Education, as is in our contemporary society, is flawed to its core. Focusing on grade-point averages (GPA), standardized testing and the most damning factor is the pressure of forging your future without the knowledge of who you are.

A life-lesson that I was fortunate enough to learn in my late teens was:

• Know who you are.
• Know where you’re going.
• Know who you’re going with.

You cannot change that order, and in attempting to do so, you’re in for a world of confusion and disappointment.

However, by focusing on “workforce readiness,” we are changing that system.

Children, and even some young-adults, are expected to have lives figured out while they are still developing as people. The question is asked quite frequently from K-12 in various forms. It starts with, “Who do you want to be when you grow up,” and along the way changes to “What job are you going to get when you leave high school” and commonly ends with “What are your plans after college.”

By this method, you are placing the profit over the person in a sense. Obviously, asking a child what they want to be when they grow up is a harmless question that will yield a multitude of results all of which rarely come true or are even possible (my dream job as a child was to be Batman, one that unfortunately will never come true or provide a satisfactory income, unless the added factor of being Bruce Wayne was tacked on), but nonetheless the expectation placed upon young folks in the K-12 system to figure out a future “workforce ready” career is frivolous at best, and neglecting the true purpose of education at worst.

Education’s Purpose

What is the purpose of education? Well, if you ask Gov. Stitt, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters or a multitude of other politicians in Oklahoma, the United States and across the globe, the purpose of education is to prepare the next generation of workers.

However, if you ask the Ancient Greeks, the purpose of education was to cultivate well-rounded citizens.

This understanding of education stayed until the late 19th century.

Around the time of the second Industrial Revolution, which historians commonly agree took place from the mid-19th century to the early-20th century, or the Gilded Age, as some call it, North America, particularly the United States, saw a boom in development and an influx of immigration. The natural outcome of significant development, a multitude of desperate workers seeking a new start and unregulated business practice, was an income inequality that skyrocketed.

At the time, the richest 4,000 families in the U.S. (representing less than 1% of the population) had about as much wealth as other 11.6 million families all together, according to Time Magazine.

This economic trend would dwindle as the middle class grew after significant regulations were put into place by the U.S. Government, but still the wealth-inequality remained. With a wealth-inequality, there also came an inequality in education, one that remains to this day.

Low to middle-class individuals simply cannot afford the same outcomes as wealthier individuals and it is shown in schools. Low GPAs and test scores are rampant in the U.S., and the “workforce ready” mentality has set children up for failure.

But how can we reverse this mentality?

Classical Education

Classical education is a method that approaches learning through traditional tools. Teaching grammar, logic, rhetoric, history, language and a multitude of other skills that are typically underdeveloped in a modern society. However, it teaches one thing above all else; “Who am I?”

Greek Philosopher Aristotle believed the purpose of life was to flourish, and that humans flourished through education.

The Christian Bible, written in Jeremiah 29:11, states, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’”

Other religions, philosophers and teachers share similar sentiments, that the purpose of life is to flourish and prosper. The purpose of life is not to be “workforce ready,” it is instead to find oneself and give yourself to the community in which you live and in the best way you see fit.

Going back to the life-lesson I learned, know who you are first and foremost.

When a plane is crashing, it is said to apply your oxygen mask first, then the oxygen mask of the baby or toddler. You are useless if you have not first put yourself in a position to help.

The same goes for workforce development. You want good workers? Create good, engaged citizens first. And do it through education.

Teach children how to think for themselves, problem solve and critically inquire about the world around them. Encourage curiosity, growth and difficult conversations. Don’t seek to prepare them for a job, instead prepare them for life.

The saying, “It takes a village,” is ever true in education.

While I am neglecting factors such as technology advancements, social media, bullying and social-ousting, mental health and other determining factors in one’s education experience, the first-step taken should be a course correction towards a classical education. Then begin addressing other factors, but by “workforce ready” campaigns, anti-bullying assemblies and attempts to ban phones in schools, those seeking to fix issues are putting the cart before the horse.

The attempts to reform education in that sense will yield the same results as knowing where one is going before knowing who one is. You cannot take the steps out of order.