Peter Smith on Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent
I am sitting at the opening session of the Kaplan University Faculty Retreat in Miami, a biannual event that precedes KU’s graduation ceremonies, listening to my colleague and fellow Rethinking Higher Education blogger Peter Smith talking about his new book, Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent. I am proud to be his colleague and his friend.
I have read the book. It is an insightful analysis of the current state of higher education in our country. Peter offers what he calls a “new ecology of learning,” built from a learner’s perspective, as the right way to meet the challenges to our higher education community laid out by President Obama and others.
The book reflects Peter’s own personal journey to the conclusions and recommendations that he offers. Congratulations, Peter, on the publication of Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent.
2 Responses to “Peter Smith on Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent”
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This does look promising based on a reading of the free PDF excerpt
Since so many older workers are quietly retiring, and the need for skilled replacements is going to be huge, how is the torch going to be passed on? Smith writes:
“Instead of doubling our number of college graduates by 2020, we are on track to either stand still or improve slightly, missing the mark by millions of people and jobs…If we don’t break through the success ceiling, less - developed countries will swamp us with the sheer numbers of their educated new entrants to the global workforce…”
Rick,
Thanks for visiting the blog. I’m not sure how “quietly” we are retiring, or with many folks retirement funds depleted by the economy, whether we are retiring at all. It is the case, however, that we will need a larger, more skilled workforce to do tomorrow’s work. We would all prefer, I think, that the best of those jobs go to our own children and grandchildren.